


Kuroo Tetsurou and the Years of Life

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Getting Together, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Slow Build, mention of childhood abuse, roughly based on marauders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-13 22:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11195190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: Kuroo Tetsurou wants nothing more to get away from his pureblood family, Hogwarts gives him his chance to be his own person instead of the person his parents expect him to be.Roughly based on the marauders just with Kuroo, Bokuto, Sawamura, and Oikawa playing the parts.





	1. First Year

**First Year**

 

 

Kuroo Tetsurou could not wait to board the train that would take him to Hogwarts.  For what had seemed like his entire life, but had really started to become noticeable the past year, was that he didn’t quite fit with his pureblood family.  There was an uneasiness in his mind, something he couldn’t name and didn’t particularly want to anyways.  An itch beneath his skin, the need to go, go, _go_.  It was difficult to be around them for any extended amount of time and his younger brother was probably the worst.

 

Tetsurou was raised to believe that he was better than most because of his lineage, which went in the past when it and was full of pureblood wizards and witches.  For a good majority of his life Tetsurou had believed he was better than everyone.  His magic had shown up early, he was brilliant on a broom, he was intelligent, and he was already good looking even at age eleven.  His parents were powerful and wealthy, and Tetsurou never wanted for anything.

 

Tetsurou wasn’t sure what changed or if he had always been the way he was, internally fighting against the chains and cages he was put in.  So when he got his letter to hogwarts, which was never a question really, he felt a huge sense of relief.  He would be able to separate from his parents and maybe he would be able to breathe a little easier.

 

Except with his tall stature, for an eleven year old that was, inky black hair and the newest clothes he was immediately picked out as a pureblood.  It was the first time Tetsurou had heard a negative connotation when his family name, Kuroo, was spoken.  He was meant to be a Slytherin, and everyone knew there wasn’t a witch or wizard who was Slytherin that went bad.  It sounded logically improbable, but his entire family was made up of Slytherins.  His father had acted like him being accepted into his old house wasn’t even a question.

 

Tetsurou was just about to say something to a group of older kids whispering, quite loudly, about all the evil things the Kuroo family had been apart of.  He wasn’t sure what he would say and he was pretty positive it would land him in trouble.  He was tall for his age but he was still scrawny and honestly had never been in a fight in his life.  But something small and warm landed on top of his head.

 

“What-” Tetsurou reached up carefully and felt something soft and distinctly feather-feeling burrowing into his hair, which was kept a lot shorter than he liked.  His mother made him constantly get haircuts, when his hair was longer it tended to be on the messy side and there was no fixing it.  Tetsurou had already vowed to grow it out as long as he could before he was forced to go home for the holidays in several months.

 

“Hey hey hey!”  Tetsurou turned to see a boy who was a bit taller than him, but all awkward long legs and arms, run up to him and almost barrel him over.  “Gidget likes you!”

 

“Gidget?”  Tetsurou asked, listening to the soft hoots of what was definitely a very small owl nesting in his hair as the little creature nipped light at his prodding fingers.

 

“Yeah!”  The boy bounced energetically, not looking like he could stay still for the life of him.  His eyes were heavily hooded but still somehow very large, and they looked almost gold under the artificial lighting.  “Gidget is a Northern Saw-whet owl, he’s just a baby and was found nestled in someone's package from Canada!  He’s supposed to be with my dad but he wormed his way into the pocket of my robe and when I put them on just now he flew out and into your hair so he must like you. Please don’t tell anyone he’s here, he’s just a baby so I don’t want to have to put him with all the other owls, they might pick on him.  My name is Bokuto Koutarou!”  A hand was thrust into his chest, making them both cringe.

 

“Kuroo Tetsurou.”  Tetsurou waited for the recognition and then the following distrust or scowl.  The recognition happened but Koutarou just beamed brightly at him.

 

“Would you like to sit with me?  I found an empty carriage back there, I have some snacks my mum made too, she makes the best lollies but there’s some healthy stuff in there too if you like that.”  Tetsurou didn’t seem to have much of a choice as he was pulled along.  Tetsurou had never met anyone quite like Koutarou, who was so opposite of his own withdrawn and quiet family.

 

The carriage was not empty when they arrived, a smallish brunette boy was curled up in the corner but he immediately sat up straight when they entered.

 

“I have every right to be here as you do and you can’t just- you can’t kick me out!”  The boy cried, fingers digging into the seat cushion.  Koutarou and Tetsurou shared a look, as if they had been childhood friends and didn’t meet five minutes ago.

 

“You can sit here if you’d like, my mum made some snacks if you want some.”  Koutarou practically fell into his seat, his long limbs seemed to be something new to him.  Tetsurou sat down with more grace but he saw the other boy looking up at his head as Koutarou dug around for his snacks.

 

“What?”  Tetsurou asked just to be difficult because he knew what the other boy was looking at.  The boy flushed red, sputtering.

 

“Oh!  I’m Bokuto Koutarou and this is Kuroo Tetsurou and that’s Gidget-” Koutarou launched into the stowaway owl story again as he passed out his snacks.  Tetsurou looked at the lolly in his hand, obviously homemade.  His mother had never even set foot in the kitchen, unless it was to yell at the staff.

 

“Oikawa Tooru.”  Tooru said, looking like he was relaxing slightly as Koutarou filled up the silence.

 

Tetsurou thought that these two kids were exactly the type of people his parents would warn him to stay far, far away from and maybe it was a bad idea to use that as a basis of their friendship but really, Tetsurou had met the kids his parents wanted him to associate with.  He much prefered Koutarou’s rambunctiousness and Tooru’s snappishness to anything the other kids had to offer.

 

“My mum was in Gryffindor but my dad was in Hufflepuff so I think I’ll probably go into one of those houses, I’m kind of hoping Gryffindor because their Quidditch team is the best but I wouldn’t mind Hufflepuff!”  Koutarou quickly defended Hufflepuff, as if afraid he’d offend anyone even though the idea of Tetsurou being in Hufflepuff was laughable and Tooru just looked confused.  “What about you?”

 

“Oh.”  Tooru sat up straight, scratching at his cheek.  “My mother was in Ravenclaw and my dad- he’s a- well, a muggle.”  Koutarou blinked owlishly a few times before exploding into a flurry of exclamations and questions.  Tooru looked shocked before a pleased, and relieved, smile appeared on his face.  Gidget picked at Tetsurou’s hair, as if it was his fault Koutarou was so loud.

 

Tetsurou thought of the houses, thought of how his family expected him to be in Slytherin and thought of what a laugh it would be if he ended up in Gryffindor instead.

 

 

 

 

\-------------------------

 

 

 

 

It was well into December and Tetsurou found himself loving life at Hogwarts.  To the surprise of everyone who knew of his family, he was sorted into Gryffindor.  He hadn’t told anyone that he had asked the Sorting Hat to let him be placed there, especially after hearing Koutarou sorted into the same house, and was shocked when the old hat actually listened to him.  Koutarou had hooted and hollered as Tetsurou took a seat next to him and an older boy had slapped him on the back in congratulations.

 

Tetsurou had been wary that the other Gryffindors wouldn’t accept him, but after an initial hesitation they had treated him like all the other new first years.  He was told what teachers were the best and which classes to never fall asleep in under penalty of horrible detentions.  He was let in on gossip and food was shared with him.

 

Of course there was a letter, his only letter from his parents, that said they expected him home for the holidays and they would discuss the “disappointing situation”.  Tetsurou had laughed himself to tears reading that, he wondered if his family would burn him off the family tree for his hogwarts house.

 

Tooru slowly came out of his defensive shell, though he was always quick to defend himself, almost too quick but Koutarou’s loud friendliness made people like Tooru and Tetsurou by association.  His pureblood “friends” tended to seek him out just to suck up to him a little, they didn’t know he was a disappointment to his family.  Their small group was rather popular within their year.

 

It was in mind-numbing class of History of Magic that something interesting happened.  Tetsurou did well in the class because he already knew the history of magic but Tooru diligently took notes while Koutarou snoozed a top the game of tic-tac-toe he had been in the middle of playing with Tetsurou.  Tetsurou wasn’t sure how Koutarou kept winning the game, it was a stupid game anyways.

 

The door opened and their professor stopped mid sentence as Professor Ukai, who taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, walked in with a black haired boy following closely behind him.  Tetsurou elbowed Koutarou awake and they both watched the new boy with interest.  He had a Gryffindor tie but Tetsurou had no idea who he was.  The new class of first years was large but it wasn’t that large that Tetsurou would overlook a fellow housemate in the same year as him.

 

“Sorry for the intrusion, this is Sawamura Daichi and he’ll be joining your class from now on.”  Professor Ukai pushed Daichi forward in that rough but kind way he had.  Daichi bowed and repeated the professors apologies for interrupting before he was sat down in the empty chair next to Tooru.

 

New students after the term had already begun just didn’t happen, at least not to Tetsurou’s recollection.  Which made Daichi interesting to everyone.  He was small like most of their class was, stuck in the awkward stages of not quite a child but not quite a teenager.  His freckles stood out on his pallid skin, and so did the faint scars that cut through the exposed skin of his neck, face, and hands.  His uniform and robe were obvious hand-me-downs, outdated and faded and they fit poorly.

 

Daichi seemed to pull into himself at the attention as he took notes while the professor droned on, mentioning something in the book.  A book that Daichi clearly didn’t have, panic making him grip his quill tightly as he looked around at the other students who slowly turned to the correct page.

 

Tetsurou was surprised when Tooru plopped his own book between himself and Daichi, shrugging off Daichi’s soft thank you as they both bent over the book to read the passage.

 

Koutarou and Tetsurou shared a look.

 

Daichi fit nicely into their group, as if it was just waiting for a fourth member.  He was hesitant at first but after the holiday he became stronger, sterner and tended to laugh a bit louder and easier.  Going home for the holiday had been rough on Tetsurou, who had to deal with his parents disappointment the entire time.  He had given Daichi his robes, knowing that his mother would get him new ones.  Tetsurou had left them on Daichi’s bed, wrapped badly in newspaper with a note that simply said _Either you take them or they go in the trash_ because Tetsurou was awkward with kind gestures and Daichi was too stubborn to accept the robes any other way.

 

They didn’t talk about it but Daichi had looked relieved when he put on the new robes.  He had two sets of the old outdated ones but one had gone missing and kids were starting to talk about the one he wore everyday.  Twelve year olds could be quite mean.

 

Koutarou had sent Daichi a load of presents, revealing to Tetsurou in private that once his parents found out that Daichi was alone at the school for the holidays they had immediately started shopping for the ‘poor dear’.  Tetsurou guessed the next year the Bokuto’s would demand Daichi go home to them for the holidays, and he was only a little jealous at the thought.

 

Tooru had bought them a bunch of muggle  items, things that would make Tetsurou parents heads spin if they knew about it.

 

“Can I copy your potions notes?”  Tetsurou asked as they walked to Herbology together.  Daichi gave him an annoyed look and Tetsurou felt a strange sense of pride in the other boy, two months ago Daichi would have meekly agreed even though they both know Tetsurou was just asking to be annoying.

 

“After last time?  Absolutely not.”  Daichi had an illness he never talked about.  For most of the month he seemed fine, gaining a healthy coloring and walking a little straighter but then his health would slowly decline.  He was in the declining stage now and Tetsurou already knew it was only a matter of a day or two until he disappeared for three days then reappeared with new scars and a pallid skin tone.

 

“You accidently set someone's notes on fire one time,” Tetsurou feigned a mournful tone.  It was more like three times, though honestly they were all accidents.  Except most of the accidents were caused by him and Koutarou.

 

“And then when they don’t catch on fire you just mock my handwriting or tell me what I’ve done wrong.”  Because he missed the first month and half of classes, on top of missing several days of classes each month meant Daichi was constantly playing catch up.  His poorest subject was potions, which was just fine since potions tended to be Tetsurou’s best class.  But Tetsurou couldn’t just say he wanted to help Daichi, they were twelve year old boys after all.  He couldn’t admit to being kind and Daichi was too stubborn to accept any help.

 

So Tetsurou teased and prodded and mocked while Daichi cussed and punched him and gritted his teeth but in the end Daichi got better marks and all the information he would have if he hadn’t missed several days worth of classes.

 

“Please Daichi, I’m begging you, you’re my only hope.”  Tetsurou pulled on Daichi’s robes and Daichi pulled ahead of him, dragging Tetsurou along.

 

“Alright already!”  Daichi shoved him into their herbology class.

 

“Great, a week from now we will study together before the big potions exam.”  Daichi gave him a distrustful look but Tetsurou just smiled innocently.  A week from then meant Daichi would be back from wherever he went when he got sick and Tetsurou could catch him up on potions while Tooru and Koutarou helped with the other subjects.

 

Tetsurou was kind but he was also twelve and couldn’t show it.

 

 

 

 

\-------------------------

 

 

 

 

Honestly Tetsurou hadn’t expected Daichi to be so cunning, though he really should have.  After he learned that small fact he decided he would be more aware of other people, would make sure to see everything he could about them.

 

But Daichi, Daichi was a surprise wrapped in a mystery.

 

“Are you going to tell me now?  It’s the last day, what if something happens and we never see each other?  What if I die?”  Tetsurou flopped down on Daichi’s bed, watching the other boy methodically pack up his few items.  There were the soft black sweater Koutarou’s parents sent him, Tetsurou and Tooru had received the same one in varying sizes and colors.  Tetsurou’s old robes, three spell books Tooru was letting Daichi borrow, and various other items.  It only took a couple minutes for Daichi to pack up and when he was done there was plenty of room left in his trunk.

 

Tetsurou and Tooru had to sit on each others trunks to get them to close.  Koutarou still hadn’t packed.

 

“My life would be a lot quieter.”  Daichi closed the trunk with a snap.

 

“I think the word you’re looking for is boring.”  Tetsurou corrected as he reached over to pet Gidget softly, he was currently perched on Daichi’s shoulder and burrowing into the other’s neck.  Gidget’s affections were fickle and Tetsurou didn’t feel cheated at all.

 

“Itching powder.”  Daichi said suddenly, causing Tetsurou to raise an eyebrow.  “It’s a muggle invention, though I’m sure there’s a wizard-equivalent but it wouldn’t be traced back to us as a spell or potion.”

 

“Itching powder?”  Tetsurou asked, eyebrows raising in question.

 

“They shouldn’t have said those things about Bo.”  Daichi sniffed, looking away with his back ramrod straight.  The scars down the left side of his neck looked like claw marks.

 

“Tooru?”  Tetsurou guessed who had acquired the muggle contraption.  Koutarou had lost Gryffindor a 100 points before the big feast when the house cup would be announced.  Gryffindor was in the lead but the 100 point loss planted them just behind Slytherin and cost them the cup.  Tetsurou hadn’t practically cared, Tooru was a competitive person by nature so it bothered him but he didn’t let it show in front of Koutarou, and Daichi had been too busy recovering from his illness to mind much.

 

Some fifth years had taken it to heart though.  They had said some pretty nasty things about Koutarou, who of course heard everything because the bloody idiots had talked about it in the Gryffindor common room.  Tetsurou knew Koutarou had mood swings, but he had never seen Koutarou fall that far until then.

 

Daichi had talked them out of retaliation, claiming they wouldn’t be able to win against fifth years anyways and it would just get them all in trouble.  Tetsurou had quietly seethed, Koutarou and slumped around, hiding mostly in their room while Daichi and Tooru seemed perfectly fine.  That had irked Tetsurou a lot.

 

Until a commotion started up in the common room early in the morning.  The fifth years were yelling, jumping around and scratching at themselves like fools.  Tetsurou had stared in shock before letting out a loud cackling laugh.

 

They had accused Tetsurou of doing something, of Koutarou too but they both had detention the previous day and therefore had no time to spell them.  Not that first years would know how to cast such a curse anyways.

 

The professors had been stumped because it wasn’t a spell or potion of any kind.  The fifth years had come back, glaring daggers and shaved from the top of their heads to their feet.  They had been scrubbed down by the nurses and apparently it had all been quite embarrassing and traumatic.

 

Daichi had never given himself away, not to anyone else anyways.  But Tetsurou had gotten to know the other boy over the course of the year, knew that his quietness meant something.  Meant that Daichi had been involved or knew who had done it.

 

“If they find out they’ll make you pay.”  Tetsurou said only half in worry.  There was something strong within Daichi, something like hardened steel.  The only reason people walked all over him was because he let them.

 

“Hey hey hey!  Who’s ready to go home?”  Koutarou cheered as him and Tooru waltzed into their room.

 

“Bo you haven’t even started packing yet.”  Tetsurou said with a laugh as Koutarou let out a long, drawn out and dramatic groan of distress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to **audriel** for editing this chapter!!


	2. Second Year

**Second Year**

 

 

Tetsurou was thankful for Kenma, for his family really.  For them being purebloods and in good standing with his own family, for being wealthy and for having a son around his age.  Thankful that they have so many kids, six in all, that one more joining for dinner made no difference at all.  He thought he might have done something drastic during the summer if he hadn’t been able to hide out at Kenma’s house, playing chess game after chess game.  Sometimes Tetsurou would purposely let Kenma win, but the other boy always knew when it was happening and would toss chess pieces at him.  Sometimes the chess pieces took offense at that and started to attack Tetsurou.  They were very small but getting prodded with a tiny sword still hurt.

 

Tetsurou’s parents had refused to let him go visit Koutarou.  He was only 12 and needed one of them to take him there but he swore the second he was old enough he’d just leave.  It was not as if they acted like they liked having him around and Tetsurou couldn’t seem to fit himself into the perfect son role he had once played.

 

It was too much for a twelve year old to handle so he shoved it to the back of his mind and concentrate on something much more important.

 

“Rubbing it won’t make it grow back faster.”  Kenma stated without an ounce of sympathy.  Tetsurou groaned as he let his hand fall to his side.  His mother had been appalled at the state of his hair when he got home for the summer and had nearly shaved it all off before they headed off to Kings Cross.  The worst part was she had actually enchanted his hair to grow back exceedingly slow so he wouldn’t be able to grow it out long again.

 

Tetsurou made a promise to read everything he could about magic and hair the second they get to school.  After catching up with Koutarou, Tooru, and Daichi that was.  He wanted to walk off and find them but Kenma was a bundle of nerves behind him, even though he looked as passive as ever.  New places with new people were overwhelming for him and while Tetsurou might be 12 and cared little for the world that didn't directly involve himself, he won’t abandon Kenma.

 

They found a carriage occupied by two other first years and Tetsurou couldn't remember feeling nervous last year, not like the lot of them were but it hardly mattered.  The two boys were bent over a large book, the smaller one explaining all about Hogwarts in a soft, high pitched tone.  He was rather greasy looking with a pale complexion and eyes far too large for his head.  The other boy seemed more put together, Tetsurou was envious of his head full of black curls.

 

“You can’t just let your owl free on the train!”  A familiar exasperated female voice yelled out.  Tetsurou knew only one person who could make the newest Prefect sound like that.  Tetsurou got up and pulled open the door just in time to come face to face with a small owl who flew onto his head.  Gidget made disappointed hooting noises as he pulled as the short strands.

 

“Hey you, stop that, it’s not my fault- Koutarou what did you do?”  Tetsurou stared in shock as Koutarou made his way down the aisle towards him, Tooru close behind him with a large smirk.

 

“You sounded so down about your hair that I shaved my head!”  Koutarou pushed them all into the carriage as their prefect continued to scold them, which they all promptly ignored.  “Tooru refused but I can hold him down while you shave him.”

 

“I will curse you into another century.”  Tooru gripped at his brown locks as Tetsurou gave him a considering look.  “Don’t.”

 

“Snip snip.”  Tetsurou gave him a toothy grin.

 

“Hey hey hey!”  Koutarou shouted in greeting when he realized there were other people on the train.  His shaved head looked really ridiculous if Tetsurou was being honest, which he always tried to be but the thought that Koutarou had easily shaved his own head just to make Tetsurou feel better made him hold his tongue.  He was tanned from holiday and his white scalp was almost too much.

 

The two boys looked up, startled at the loud greeting.  Kenma attempted to melt into his seat as Tetsurou took the seat next to him.

 

“Why are you reading a big old history book?”  Koutarou asked as he crashed into the seat next to the kid with curly hair, who sat up straighter at being addressed.  His friend sunk backwards, eyeing them warily.

 

“My parents are both mo-muggles.”  The boy stuttered over the word but continued on strongly.  “I have a lot to catch up on.”

 

“But this will all be covered in History of Magic- wait your parents are both muggles?”  Koutarou bounced in his seat, firing off question after question.  Tooru looked relieved that he was no longer the center of Koutarou’s endless curiosity.

 

“Well my mum is a nurse nurse-”

 

“We have nurses too!”  Koutarou shouted.  “But their magical and they don’t- hey, how do muggle nurses cure people if they haven’t gotten any magic?  Do they cut into them?  I read about that once!”

 

“Well yes, but there’s always a reason, they don’t just cut up people at random.”  The boy seemed to be amused rather than annoyed at Koutarou’s gape of muggle knowledge, which was good because Koutarou wouldn’t stop asking questions until they reached Hogwarts.

 

“Keiji you don’t have to explain, they are just poking fun at you.”  The other boy finally spoke up as he tugged on his friends, Keiji’s, robes.  Keiji seemed to deflate a little, looking confused because Koutarou’s enthusiasm was obviously genuine.

 

“Ah- I’m sorry if it sounded that way but I’m really not.”  Koutarou faltered, looking a little dejected and at loss of words.  Tooru stiffened next to Tetsurou, was speaking before anyone else could say a word.

 

“Maybe if you took a shower, got the grease out of your ears once in awhile you’d actually be able to hear properly.”  Tooru’s words were a slap to the face, said in a sickly sweet tone and a smile with too many teeth.  Kenma pressed against Tetsurou’s side as he watched the scene unfold.  The boy flushed an angry red.  Koutarou let out a laugh, a nervous habit he had a tendency to do in the worst of situations.  The two boys turned their furious gazes to Koutarou before Keiji was pulling the other boy up.

 

“Come on Kaito,” Keiji scowled, it was an impressive look for an eleven year old.  They gathered their things and stormed out as Koutarou slumped into his seat.

 

“Tooru!”  Koutarou whined.

 

“He was rude first.”  Tooru said with a shrug, moving over to the now unoccupied bench.  “Plus he did look like he needed a bath.”

 

“Maybe I should go apologize?”  Koutarou asked.  “Why isn’t Daichi here?”  Koutarou groaned, sprawling out across Tooru and poking at the other boy.

 

Tetsurou also wondered why Daichi wasn’t there.

 

Kenma and the slimy kid, Kaito weresorted into Slytherin while Keiji becomes a Gryffindor.  He purposely sat away from Koutarou, swallowed by the small group of new Gryffindors, and rebuked any attempt that Koutarou tried to talk to him.

 

“Hey Bo, have you been practicing on your broom?  Tryouts will be soon.”  The new captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team leaned across the table after they had all scarfed down their first plateful of food.  Tetsurou figured the bloke had noticed Koutarou’s slumped shoulders and the easiest way to cheer him up was talk of quidditch.

 

“Yeah!”  Koutarou popped up like a flower finding sunlight, his eyes wide and sparkling.

 

“You’re going to have to beat a lot of people out for a spot.”  An older girl said good naturedly.

 

“I’ll work really hard!”  Koutarou shouted, making their table laugh because if there was one thing Bokuto Koutarou was serious about, it was quidditch.

 

It was three more days until Daichi showed up, pale with new scars.  It looked like something clawed the left side of his face. Tetsurou knew they will be gone within a couple days, he had a potion that he rubbed on the scars every night to make them heal quicker.

 

Tooru had speculated that it might be an old family curse while Bokuto put his bet on a spell gone wrong.  Tetsurou wasn’t sure, at first he had thought someone had to be putting the marks on Daichi but then he realized that the professors watched the young boy closely.  No one was hurting Daichi on a monthly basis without the teaching staff knowing about it.  For a brief and dark moment Tetsurou thought maybe the staff was responsible, but he had seen the way Professor Takada had stared worriedly at Daichi.

 

Tetsurou, Koutarou, and Tooru join the quidditch team.  They won’t be playing in any official games, probably not for the entire year but they were allowed to train and practice with the team and that’s enough for Tetsurou.  Even Koutarou seemed content, though he had nearly fallen off his broom several times whenever one of the older students asked him to practice with them.  Tooru was the only one who seemed to be dissatisfied.

 

Tetsurou had guessed early on that Tooru had a complex about others being better than him.  He always got angry when Tetsurou managed to get better grades, despite Tetsurou not trying half as hard as the other boy.  Tooru was competitive, which seemed alright with Tetsurou because he was too but something seemed to be slowly shifting inside his friend.

 

They were 13 when they held Tooru down and shaved off his hair.  Tooru cried crocodile tears but Tetsurou had heard one too many snide comments from the other boy to let it go anymore.

 

“If it’s no big deal than why don’t you shave off your hair!”  Tooru yelled at Daichi, who was looking through his book of _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ while eating some of the sweets Koutarou’s mom had sent them all.

 

“Okay.”  Daichi shrugged.

 

“It’s easy for you to say, your hair is already short!”  Tooru wailed, sprawling across Daichi’s bed.  Daichi reached out and rubbed his bald head.  “Stop that.”

 

“They warned you.”  Daichi was on the upswing of his strange illness.  Tetsurou couldn’t help but notice the other boys envious looks when the other three went off for quidditch practice.

 

“Why is this book so old?”  Tooru asked.  The back of Daichi’s neck flushed red as he rubbed at it.  Tetsurou grabbed hold of Tooru’s foot and yanked him off the bed, causing the boy to yelp and land on the ground with a loud thud.

 

Tooru knew exactly why Daichi’s book was so old, just like all his items were clearly old.  Even his wand looked like secondhand.  Tooru was just being mean but luckily Tetsurou was just as mean.

 

“Maybe we should shave his eyebrows too.”  Tooru wailed as Koutarou laughed.  Daichi looked relieved.

 

 

 

\---------------------

 

 

 

 

“Please explain what you thought you were doing?”  The nurse asked, fluttering around them.

 

“We were trying to grow my hair back, worked fine on Tooru’s cat.”  Tetsurou explained with a shrug, not sure why people were making such a big deal out of it.  The days were cold and Tetsurou thought having a layer of fur over his skin kept him warm all the time.

 

 

 

 

\-------------------

 

 

 

 

“Mother will get rid of those clothes after you’re gone.”  Tetsurou’s little brother hovered in the doorway as Tetsurou rifled through his closet, pulling out articles of clothing and adding them to the growing pile behind him.

 

“I’m giving them to a schoolmate.”  Tetsurou explained, though he was not sure why because his little brother will never get it.

 

“Why?  Can’t he afford his own clothes?  Mother and father will be mad if they find out.”  His brother is far too serious for an eight year old but he had always been like that.

 

“They won’t even notice.”  Tetsurou tossed out another sweater.

 

Tetsurou had given Daichi his old robes once again for Christmas and the other boy looked so relieved that Tetsurou had decided to bring back clothes for Daichi’s birthday.  Tetsurou was bad with gifts while Daichi seemed equally bad at receiving them but some of the clothes hadn’t even been worn.  He knew his mother would go through his closet, tossing out anything that was out of fashion or season.

 

“Why are you always fighting with them?”  His brother asked but all Tetsurou can do was shrug.  He was not sure why he can’t seem to get along with his parents anymore, or if it had always been like this and he had never noticed.  But he was 13 and he heard the dinner bell ring so all that was shoved out of his mind.

 

Koutarou had asked Daichi to come home with him for the holidays but Daichi had declined.  Koutarou had been upset but not quite as upset as Tetsurou had seen Daichi when he thought no one was watching.  Tetsurou had wanted to go home with Koutarou too, so he understood Daichi’s feelings.  Perhaps next year Tetsurou would put his foot down and say he was staying at hogwarts for the holidays, maybe it wouldn’t feel like such a lonely holiday with Daichi there even if they were in a mostly empty castle.

 

 

 

 

\-----------------------

 

 

 

 

“Why is it whenever something happens in this school, you four are involved?”  Professor Ukai drawled out, not looking surprised in the slightest as he stared over at his four students, covered in something blue and oozing that was starting to grow fuzzy.

 

“I ask myself the same thing Professor.”  Tooru whined before Daichi made all of them apologize.

 

 

 

 

\---------------------

 

 

 

 

“Keiji hates me!”  Koutarou cried out, sprawling out across Daichi and Tetsurou who were sitting on the couch.  Tooru was bent over near the fire, reading up on _Quidditch Through the Ages_ as if it held some secret that would make him play in an official match.

 

“Well yeah, you insulted his friend.”  Daichi said without sympathy.

 

“I wasn’t even the one who said anything!”  That was true enough.  Tooru had taken a huge dislike of Kaito, which was fair enough.  The boy tended to grate on the nerves.

 

“Standing back in silence is just as bad.”  Daichi pushed Koutarou’s legs off of him, bending over his own homework with a complicated expression.  Daichi never spoke up during the small argument that broke out with Kaito but Tetsurou was pretty sure his friend disapproved of the fights.

 

“If he would just shower,” Tooru muttered from his place in front of the fire, proving that he was indeed listening.

 

“Right!  Kaito just needs a shower.”  It wasn’t said maliciously, Koutarou truly believed that if the other boy just bathed everything would be right as rain.  Tetsurou didn’t have it in him to explain that a bath couldn’t clean someone’s nasty personality.  The portrait of the fat lady slammed shut, revealing a stony eyed Keiji, who stormed up the tower stairs without a word.  “No!”

 

Tetsurou and Tooru cackled at that, even Daichi cracked a smile as Koutarou rolled around on the floor dramatically.

 

 

 

 

\---------------------

 

 

 

 

“What are you going to do?”  Daichi asked after they had retold him, play-by-play, what had happened during practice and how they had broken Koutarou’s broom.  The captains of both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff had decided they wanted to see the second years play against each other, to gauge their potential.  Everything had been going fine until Ushijima Wakatoshi had shown up, late from his talk with one of the professors.

 

Tetsurou wasn’t even sure what had happened except Wakatoshi was an overwhelming force on the Hufflepuff team.  None of them had the finesse of a more seasoned player so Wakatoshi’s size and strength really made up for what the others lacked.

 

Koutarou had been driven to play harder.  Tetsurou wasn’t even sure what happened except there was a collision.  Wakatoshi had been fine, the big solid ogre that he was hadn’t even had a scratch on him, but Koutarou’s broom had shown a hairline fracture.

 

“It’s fine, I’ll just practice with one school brooms until my parents send me a new one.”  Koutarou shrugged while Daichi looked on with a small frown on his face.  Koutarou came from money, his parents were independently wealthy and he had never wanted for anything.  Being their only child meant he was a bit spoiled, not that Koutarou actually knew that.  Koutarou had the naive assumption that everyone lived like he did, that everyone’s parents loved them unconditionally like his parents loved him.  Tetsurou could understand Daichi’s confusion.  His parents would send him a lengthy, disappointing letter about breaking his broom but they would replace it anyways.  Daichi didn’t even have his own broom.

 

“What are you going to do with that one?”  Daichi asked, motioning to the broom now propped up in the corner of their room.

 

“Toss it,” Koutarou said with a shrug as he changed into his sleep clothes.

 

“Hm,” Daichi cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck.  “Can I- is it okay if-” Koutarou put his sleep shirt on, inside out but he looked over at Daichi.

 

“Yeah!”  Koutarou said quickly, understanding that Daichi was asking if he could have the broken broom.  “You can have it, I’ll be right back!”  He dashed out of the room as Daichi stared over at the broom for a long moment before returning his attention back to his reading.

 

Not even a week later Koutarou was gifted with a new broom, a letter expressing his parents worry and telling him to play safe came with it.  Along with a broom repair kit.

 

“If you were just going to fix it, why bother getting a new one?”  Tooru asked as he laid on his stomach on his bed while Koutarou sat on the ground, tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth as he carefully fixed his old broom.

 

“Wasn’t worth it when it was mine.”  Koutarou shrugged.  Daichi was gone for his sick days but when he came back it would be to an almost new-looking broom.

 

Tooru sighed as he pushed himself up, digging through Daichi’s books to pull out _Magical Drafts and Potions_.  Tetsurou watched in silence as Koutarou continued to repair the broom and Tooru wrote out some of the missing pages from Daichi’s book, carefully folding the handwritten pieces of paper into the book.

 

Tetsurou pinned an unflattering drawing Kaito had made of the four of them above Daichi’s bed so it would be one of the first things the other boy saw when he came back, hoping it would make him laugh.

 

 

 

 

\---------------

 

 

 

Professor Nekomata looked torn between amusement and scorn as he stared at the four students before him.

 

“How?”  He asked simply as the four friends looked between themselves.

 

“Someone told Koutarou that there were unicorns in the forest.”  Daichi explained with a wince.  There might be unicorns in the forest, they wouldn’t know because they were attacked by giant spiders before they could get very far.

 

 

 

 

\-------------

 

 

 

“Are you sure you can’t come?  My parents don’t mind, honest!  Actually they really want you there.”  Koutarou begged as they all stood in the common room to make their goodbyes to Daichi.  Daichi never rode the train with them, honestly Tetsurou almost believed the other boy lived at the school for the whole year.  “Tooru is coming over too!”  Tetsurou had promised to ask his parents but he knew their answer would be no.

 

The Bokuto’s were purebloods but they weren’t the type of purebloods the Kuroo’s associated with.

 

“Sorry Bo,” Daichi really did look sorry, which meant Koutarou was choking down his own disappointment as they said their goodbyes, promising to write as another school year came to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! I have a hard time writing bullying scenes. Making someone a bully but still likable? Seems impossible!
> 
> Thank you **audriel** for editing this!


	3. Third Year

**Third Year**

 

 

 

 

For the first time Tetsurou wasn’t excited to return to Hogwarts.  He was excited to get out of his house, even hiding at Kenma’s hadn’t dulled the sharp ache of his parents giving him the silent treatment.  Tetsurou hadn’t realized that it could get worse than daily lectures and disapproving looks shared over the dinner table.  Being ignored, acted as if he didn’t even exist was so much worse.

 

It wouldn’t have been so bad if he had just gotten one letter, one measly letter from any of his friends.  Tetsurou had written to them several times until he finally gave up halfway through the summer.  He had expected updates from Tooru, reminders of summer readings from Daichi, and messily scrawled invites to his house from Koutarou.  But there had been nothing, not a single letter and that had unexpectedly hurt.  It hurt far worse than his parents pretending they didn’t see him.

 

Tetsurou didn’t bother searching out Koutarou or Tooru on the train, instead sat with Kenma and his new friend Yama-something.  Tora, or something like that.  Tetsurou hadn’t been paying attention to introductions, hadn’t even realized that Kenma could make friends by himself.  He knew that wasn’t exactly fair and he stopped himself from taking his bad mood out on his friend.

 

Kenma might be safe from Tetsurou’s sudden push of provocative behavior, but no one else was.  An easy target came in the form of Kaito, who flushed an angry red whenever he was embarrassed and hissed threats and insults back.  But those fell off Tetsurou like they were nothing because they were nothing.  Kaito was nothing and Tetsurou let him know it.

 

Koutarou was easily influenced by this behavior.  Tooru ended up joining in also, Tetsurou thought it was because he was just as messed up as Tetsurou was but he didn’t bother asking.  Why would he when his own so-called best friend couldn’t even take two minutes to pen him a note?  To write back to any of the numerous letters Tetsurou had sent.

 

Daichi clearly disapproved but he never said anything.  He stopped spending every free moment with them which was fine with Tetsurou, really it was.  Daichi had been keeping secrets from the very beginning.  He had never trusted them so perhaps he never really thought of them as friends to begin with.  Maybe he had just stuck with them because he got free stuff out of it?

 

Tetsurou felt like that logic was wrong but he’s so angry all the time.  It was not red hot, an explosion in his mind but more like a low simmer, slowly cooking him alive from the inside out.

 

Tetsurou’s parents didn’t tell him to come home for the holidays, didn't, even send his letter to have him come home and he didn't even realize it until he had packed and walked towards the bus when Professor Takeda stopped him.  He was awkward and stumbling and Tetsurou felt his brain go blank.

 

Kaito was nearby, heard the whole thing and took great pleasure in retelling it to anyone who would listen.  How not even Tetsurou’s own parents could stand to be around him.  Tetsurou was mad, mad, _mad_ and there was no one stopping him from taking things too far.

 

Others joined in on tormenting Kaito.  He was odd and dirty and had a nasty personality so it was easy to get people on Tetsurou’s side.  Sometimes Kaito’s shoes went missing, his textbooks turned to ashes in his hands, maggots appeared in his food.  Tetsurou didn't even have to raise a hand, or his wand, because other people did it for him.

 

“Are you okay?”  Daichi asked on their last day as Tetsurou was packing up to go home.  Daichi had just gotten back from missing for three days because of his “illness”.  Every Time the other boy disappeared and reappeared without an explanation Tetsurou got a little angrier.

 

“Why do you care?”  Tetsurou asked nastily, snapping his trunk shut.  His old robes fit poorly on Daichi, who seemed to have grown despite his constant “illness”.  Tetsurou hadn’t given him robes this year, hadn’t given any of them gifts even if they had given him presents.  Koutarou had just shrugged and beamed at him, _You don’t give gifts with the idea of getting ones in return bro._

 

“Because we’re friends.”  Daichi said, brows drawing together in confusion.  His freckles stuck out in clear contrast to his pale skin.

 

“Are we?”  Tetsurou shot back.  Daichi looked shocked and Tetsurou thought it would crush him, those two words would break the fragile-looking 14 year old boy.  But just when Tetsurou thought Daichi would crumble he stood up straight, shoulders thrown back and face a hard mask.

 

“Of course, I’ll see you next year Tetsurou.”  Daichi left after that and Tetsurou felt empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short but I'm bad at writing angst and people being mean to each other but I promise it gets better!
> 
> Huge thanks to **audriel** for editing this chapter!


	4. Fourth Year

**Fourth Year**

 

 

Tetsurou sat with Kenma on the train, trying to blanket his thoughts and push his emotions behind a door that not even magic could open.  The summer had been bad, the worse one yet, or maybe they had all been that bad but he was getting older and understand more and more how bad it truly was.  But it didn’t matter because he was going back to Hogwarts where he wouldn’t have go home for several months.

 

Even the feelings of his friends not writing to him once again felt distant, like they had happened a long time ago.  Tetsurou felt numb and he thinks that was better than the overwhelming tide of emotions he felt all summer.

 

The door slid open and an orange head stuck itself in, big eyes blinking before grinning widely as they spotted Kenma.  Kenma sat up a little straighter, smiled back though not quite as blindingly as the other boy.  The other boys enthusiasm dimmed a little when he spotted Tetsurou, he shifted awkwardly as he greeted them both loudly.

 

Tetsurou nodded in greeting but let them be.  Shouyou was a second year Gryffindor who made friends without really trying.  The older kids adored him and while his peers sometimes rolled their eyes or winced at his over exuberance, they were always seen helping him whenever he needed it.  He was like a little mini version of Koutarou and because of that reason Tetsurou couldn’t find it in himself to tease the nervous second year.  That and Kenma would curse him into another century if he did.

 

“Hey Kenma!  I brought something for you.”  Shouyou sat next to Kenma, riffling through various pockets in his robes before pulling out a rectangular object.  “It’s my old gameboy.”

 

“Gameboy?”  Kenma asked, taking the plastic object and turning it over in his hands.

 

“Yeah yeah, remember when I told you about the electronic games?  This is how you play them, this is my old one, my mom was worried that I’d lose my new one if I brought it which is fair, I do lose a lot of things.”  Shouyou looked guilty for a moment before he was leaning over and teaching Kenma how to turn it on, small noises coming from the Gameboy.  Shouyou was born of two muggle parents and everything about the wizarding world seemed to greatly impress and terrify the young boy in equal parts.  It wasn’t as if the small boy was stupid, Tetsurou had seen the rapid way in which Shouyou could learn if he was focused enough, but entering a completely different world than the one you were used to seemed to overwhelm him.  A nervous little Ravenclaw girl with blonde hair could always be seen tutoring Shouyou, and Daichi often times helped out when he could too.

 

Kenma listened carefully to each instruction before he began to play, sleepy eyes looking down at the small screen with a spark of _something_ in them.  A sort of intensity that Tetsurou only saw when they played chess.

 

It was during the feast, after the first years had been sorted, that Tetsurou learned of Tooru staying with Koutarou for a week.  It was said in passing, a small note on an otherwise busy summer.  Tetsurou took another bite of pie even though it tasted like ashes in his mouth.

 

Daichi showed up a full two weeks after classes had started, pale and even more withdrawn than usual.  He spent most of his free time sleeping.  Tetsurou found himself getting progressively angrier about that as time went on.  Why weren't the professors doing anything?  Why was no one acknowledging that Sawamura Daichi looked like death warmed over?  Tetsurou felt real fear, deep and clawing within him, of the realization that one year Daichi might not show up for school at all and the professors would continue on like always.

 

But what was Tetsurou supposed to do?  He believed that eventually he’d get older and the problem would solve itself, or he’d know how to help out somehow.  But he felt as useless as he did when he was eleven and Daichi disappeared for days at a time each month.

 

Quidditch was Tetsurou’s only outlet.  His escape, and yes, sometimes he hid behind it.  Let Koutarou and Tooru talk him into extra practices, just one more game, until they came back late and Daichi had already gone to bed.  He knew it was cowardly and awful but Tetsurou didn't know how to deal with Daichi’s illness on top of his own problems.  He was not even sure how to properly deal with his own issues, just shoved them away in the furthest reaches of his mind.

 

They all made the official team.  Tooru as the Seeker, Koutarou as a Chaser, and Tetsurou as a Beater.  There had been a lot of people trying to convince Koutarou to be a Beater, as one of the biggest people in their class and just one of the largest ones period, he was strong enough.  He was also quick and he had great instincts, but Koutarou wanted to be one of the people scoring points.  He didn’t have eyesight for Seeker and he boasted that he knew Tetsurou would have his back, so Chaser it was.

 

“Hey hey Akaashi!”  Koutarou boomed as they walked into the common room.  Everyone ignored the loud Chaser, used to it after years of him entering any room with a loud greeting to the first person he spotted.  They had practiced out in the rain and mud that day, it had been difficult but Tetsurou found relief in his sore muscles.  Tooru was silent behind him, they had played a practice game against Hufflepuff and while Gryffindor pulled ahead by scoring, Wakatoshi had found the snitch first.

 

“You should lower your voice Bokuto, it is late and some people are trying to get their work done.”  Keiji lightly reprimanded.  Tetsurou knew Koutarou thought calling each other by their last names was some kind of inside joke, but he was pretty sure Keiji used it as a way to distance himself from the older boys.  Keiji was never outright mean or hostile to any of them, but it was clear to Tetsurou he didn’t particularly like them.

 

“I thought you were studying with Daichi?  And that group?”  Koutarou bounded over to Keiji, like a happy puppy.  Keiji eyed him like an unwanted stray.

 

“Daichi was sent to the nurses,” Keiji said slowly before looking at each of their faces before standing up, snapping his book closed.  “He always gets rather sick around this time of the month, how did you not know?  I thought you were his friends.”  Keiji walked off, leaving his book on the couch.  Koutarou deflated and Tooru looked furious by his spot over by the fire but Tetsurou couldn't even pretend to be angry by the call-out.

 

There was no boisterous teasing or laughter as they went to bed that night.  The fourth bed in their room with it’s perfectly made bedding seemed to take up so much more space than it had before.

 

 

 

 

\-------------------------

 

 

 

 

Koutarou almost knocked them over in his rush to get their attention.  He pushed and prodded Tetsurou and Tooru down the hall, not letting them get out a full question and shushing them quite dramatically.  Tetsurou thought that Koutarou was trying to do it without making a scene and thought it was hilarious that he had the opposite effect, Tooru whined about Koutarou messing up his hair.

 

“We need someplace- someplace- um- quiet?  Alone, we need to be alone.  Private.”  Koutarou mumbled as he continued pushing them down the hallways.  They could have just gone back to their room, but Tetsurou was enjoying Koutarou’s mutterings too much to point that out just far.  “What’s this?”  Koutarou pulled open a door that Tetsurou was almost positive didn’t exist in this hallway the last time he walked past.

 

“Do you think it’s a professor's lounge?”  Tooru asked as they walked inside.  There was a huge fireplace taking up one wall, huge plush couches with a large wooden table in front of them.  It was spacious, bookshelves covering one entire wall.

 

“Think it’d be a bit difficult for us to get into if it was,” Tetsurou answered as he looked over the titles of a few books.  Some looked modern enough, some old with the titles on the spines worn off.  It looked like they were about magical creatures, curses, potions-

 

“Daichi is a werewolf!”  Tetsurou spun around to look over at Koutarou, who had gotten done with scouting the room to make sure there weren’t any small first years hiding underneath the table.

 

“What?”  Tooru asked, clear shock coloring his voice.  Koutarou removed a small book from his robes, slamming it down on the table and motioning them forward.  Tetsurou had a moment to think it looked like the same book Keiji had been reading several days prior but then Koutarou was reading a passage out of it.  A passage about werewolves.

 

“Don’t you see?  It matches!  The sickness around the same time each month, it’s the moon.  Look, _look_.”  Koutarou produced a piece of parchment with his unique scratchy handwriting on it.  He had made a make-shift calendar, marking the different phases of the moon and then when Daichi was sick.  “I remember last month he was gone during this day because Kaname melted his cauldron in Potions and remember, he said that wouldn’t have happened if Daichi was there, remember?”

 

“I had to turn his paper in for History of Magic on this day,” Tooru took out a quill from his supplies, marking a day in a different month that Koutarou had left blank.  Tetsurou took the quill from him, marking the days in each month until they were completely filled out.  He had started paying attention to the exact dates the year prior but they had never made sense to him.

 

“See!”  Koutarou motioned to the calendar.  All of Daichi’s sick days had fallen on and around the days of the full moon.

 

“Kou, this is serious, have you told anyone else?”  Koutarou shook his head furiously before slowly making a face.

 

“My dad but I didn’t tell him it was because I thought Daichi was one!  I said it was for an assignment, he helped a guy who was bitten by a werewolf when I was 8 I think.”  Koutarou fiddled with the papers, Tetsurou was surprised he wasn’t outright pacing.

 

“If this is true then no one else can know.”  Tooru crumbled up the piece of paper before tossing it into the fire.  They all watched as it was consumed completely.

 

Tetsurou thought about how weak Daichi got, how pale, how the scars stood out on his skin.  How each time Daichi disappeared and then came back with new wounds.  How Daichi has been a werewolf since he was eleven years old.  It could have been even longer than that.

 

The staff obviously knew and that was why they never chided him for missing so much class.  Why he was never deducted points for unfinished assignments and missed tests.  It explained why Daichi didn’t play Quidditch, though he looked like he wanted nothing more.

 

“So what do we do?”  Koutarou asked, hands splayed across the table.

 

“What?”  Tooru asked, eyebrows raised dramatically.

 

“We have to do something to help him!  We’re his friends.”  Koutarou insisted.

 

“He’s right.”  Tetsurou couldn’t help but agree, shrugging his shoulders as Tooru turned on him with a shocked look.

 

“What do you expect us, a couple of teenagers, to do that hundreds of wizards couldn’t do?”  Tooru asked.  “Listen, I want to help Daichi too but this is above our heads.  People are so secretive of it because the wizarding world as a whole despises werewolves.  If people found out he was one, or even suspected it, do you know what the parents would do?  They would pull their kids out, throw up a fuss, make Daichi’s life miserable until he was forced to leave and do what most werewolves do, which is to hide out in remote places.”

 

“Alright we can’t cure him but we could do something else!”  Koutarou nearly shouted.

 

“Like what?”  Tooru asked.

 

“Like find a way to be with him.”  They both turned to him and Tetsurou shrugged once more.  Tetsurou turned as a book fell off the shelf behind him.  He stood up and walked over to it, bending down to examine the faded maroon cover.

 

“You shouldn’t open old books.”  Tooru warned as he and Koutarou peered over the back of the couch at Tetsurou.

 

“Open it.”  Koutarou encouraged but he didn’t move closer.  Koutarou had opened an old scroll and had been blasted in the face with magic once.  His eyebrows had partially grown back but his hair was varying shades of black and white.

 

Tetsurou opened the book, cringing slightly but nothing happened except for the book opening to a page on werewolves.

 

“What is this room?”  Tetsurou muttered as he brought the book over to the couch.

 

They learned that putting silver and dittany on a werewolf bite will seal the wound, but then the infected person will be a werewolf forever more after that.  There was a potion, the Wolfsbane Potion, that allowed a werewolf to keep their own mind while transformed, otherwise they became mindless creatures that will attack anyone they came across.  Tetsurou hadn’t heard about a wolf-like creature haunting around the school grounds so they must be keeping him locked up somewhere, otherwise Daichi must be taking the potion.

 

“Ah, at least if he bites when he’s human we’ll only have werewolf tendencies.”  Tooru pointed out drily.

 

“If he hasn’t bitten us after four years I doubt he’ll do it in the future.”  Tetsurou said just as drily.

 

“At least in human form.”  Koutarou chirped in happily.

 

“Oh it’s a good thing we’re not trying to see him while he’s fully transformed, oh wait.”  Tooru got a face full of pillow for that one.

 

“They don’t attack animals?”  Tetsurou questioned as they read further.  The book stated that werewolves did not attack animals and that they behaved better around animals, only clawing themselves out frustration when there were no humans to attack or animals around.

 

“I barely passed transfiguration.”  Koutarou whined but Tooru was already shaking his head.

 

“I don’t think that will work.”  Tooru stood up, walking over to the bookshelf and looking up and down the spines for something.  “I think our best bet is Animagus.”

 

“But there’s a registry for that.”  Koutarou pointed out as Tooru pulled out two books.

 

“We don’t have time to go through the proper channels, now do we?”  Tooru asked as he walked back with his books, setting them on the table and flipping through them.

 

“We’ve been a bad influence on you.”  Tetsurou grinned unrepentantly.

 

“This is dangerous, sometimes people get stuck.”  Koutarou’s parents both worked at the Ministry, he probably had heard horror stories.

 

“No, this is potions, going to search out a werewolf purposely during a full moon is dangerous.”  Tooru pulled out parchment and started jotting down ingredients and notes.  “This will take time and we’ll most likely have to steal all the ingredients.  We also need a place where we can properly brew the potion and know that it’ll be left alone.  And don’t say our room.”  Koutarou deflated, mouth closing.

 

They chose a bathroom located in a far off corner of the castle.  It was completely out of the way of anything but they still put spell and charm and disguised the hell out of the last stall on the left.  Koutarou made just the doorframe smell something awful, it was a trick he picked up when his cousins had stayed with him and were always poking around in his room.  The doorway smelled awful but once you were in the actual bathroom it smelled fine.

 

They gathered ingredients, sneaking into storerooms, taking from their own stashes for class, bending down to tie shoes during Care of Magical Creatures to grab that one Morel mushroom.  It was almost fun, holding the mandrake leaf underneath their tongue and sharing secretive smiles in the hallway.

 

Tetsurou offered to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas break.  They needed to stir and say an incantation every day over the cauldron otherwise they’d have to start all over.  After Christmas they’d be able to add the mandrake leaf and then it was only 8 days until the potion would be brewed.

 

Tetsurou didn’t much mind not being summoned home for the holiday that year.  Daichi had started speaking to him again.  Well he had spoken to him before, Daichi was far too polite to actually ignore someone, but it had been done in a distanced way.  As if Daichi had been talking to a peer he had only met once instead of someone he had been friends with for four years.

 

“You’ve been leaving Kaito alone.”  Daichi said, causing Tetsurou’s spoon to hover near his mouth as he watched Kaito slink into the great hall.  Tetsurou hadn’t purposely been behaving better towards Kaito, just with school work, Quidditch, and the potion he had been too busy to do much of anything.  Too busy to even be thinking about his own poor home situation, how was he supposed to make fun of that slimy git?

 

“I’m not 14 anymore Daichi.”  Tetsurou said with a loud sniff, as if he was above such petty behavior.  He definitely was not but maybe he had been a little hard on Kaito.  He was an unlikable bloke, that was not a question but considering they were in different years and different houses Tetsurou would have to go out of his way to make fun of the other boy.  Tetsurou only put effort into his friends.

 

“You’re so wise, tell me what is 15 like?”  Daichi deadpanned, not expecting an answer which was why Tetsurou had to give him one.

 

“You wouldn’t understand my dear boy.”  Tetsurou raised an eyebrow as Daichi flung some soup at him.  It wasn’t that much, just a couple specks on Tetsurou’s robes.  “This is the kind of 14 year old tom foolery that I’ve put far behind me.”  The next spoon was much fuller as Daichi flung it at him.

 

 

 

 

\------------------

 

 

 

 

“You don’t think I can do it?”  Tooru snapped when Tetsurou offered to take over.  It was the last step of the potion and he really didn’t want it messed up because Tooru was developing a real inferiority complex.  Kageyama Tobio, a second year Gryffindor, had replaced Tooru during their last game after Tooru had fallen off his broom and they were worried he had a concussion.  Tobio was a real monster and Tetsurou could see why Tooru was worried.  Give the boy a few years and he’d be real competition, but he was still growing just like the rest of them.  Tooru had taken it as some personal insult, a failure on his part.

 

Normally Tetsurou would take the time to tease and prod his friend out of his horrible mood but they were running out of time.  Daichi had disappeared two days ago and tonight was the full moon.

 

“And who has the better grade in potions?”  Tetsurou did but he’d never let Tooru know that.

 

Koutarou was the one to pull Tetsurou back and they waited patiently side by side and Tooru completed the potions.

 

“Here.”  Tooru passed out the measured out portion from the cauldron to their own.  Tetsurou downs his first, not giving himself time to think about it.

 

Tetsurou knew intent mattered when it came to magic.  It mattered with everything but especially magic.  He had to believe that his intent to help Daichi, their intent to be somewhat of a soothing balm for their friend, came through when they were making the potion.  He also knew when you took a potion not to fight it.  Fighting was bad, made bad things happen.  So when Tetsurou felt like he had been punched in the gut he forced himself to let it happen.

 

Tetsurou fell to his knees, let out a soft whine as he curled up in on himself.

 

The first time hurt, they read about it.  After that it should be a cakewalk but they just had to get through the first time.

 

Tetsurou panted against the cold tile but it didn’t feel as cold as it was a couple minutes ago.  Actually the bathroom was always a little bit drafty, despite there being no windows but Tetsurou felt warm, insulated.  He remembered this feeling-

 

Oh he was covered in hair.  No, not hair.  Fur.  He was covered in fur.  He wasn’t sure what he was but he knew he was quite large.  Tetsurou heard a noise, his heart rate picked up and he felt his ears move towards it.

 

That was weird.

 

So was coming face to face with a big, panting black dog.  No, not a dog, a wolf.  With almost glowing gold eyes and a mouth full of big pointy teeth.  

 

Tetsurou felt something, an ecstatic buzz in his head before he realized it wasn’t his own feelings but Koutarou’s.  He didn’t know how he knew that exactly, just that he did.  The books had said Animagi could communicate with other animals but they never explained how.  To Tetsurou it felt much more like emotions than words.  Tetsurou knew Koutarou was happy and proud and-

 

Koutarou stuck his big muzzle right in Tetsurou’s face, sniffing at him loudly.  Tetsurou scrambled up to his feet, four legs instead of two wasn’t as big of an adjustment as he thought.  Standing up proved that he was much bigger than Koutarou though Tetsurou still wasn’t sure what he was.

 

Tetsurou felt light despite his size, he dashed around the room before tackling something feathery that yelled at him.  He felt indignant, there was Tooru.  He was some kind of bird, a falcon or a hawk.  Tetsurou wasn’t sure, he’d have to look it up when they returned back.

 

Daichi!  Tetsurou bounded out of the room first, he felt his body go low to the ground automatically as he looked up and down the empty hallway before giving the all clear to his friends.  Tooru was situated on top of Koutarou, who bounded out of the bathroom like a baby deer walking for the first time.

 

They had put a tracking spell on Daichi and were surprised when it actually worked.  He was in the Shrieking Shack, which was just all kinds of brilliant if you asked Tetsurou.  It was infamously haunted so if anyone heard growling or howls coming from it then it just cemented the stories.

 

Turned out there was a small tunnel underneath the Whomping Willow that led directly to the Shrieking Shack.  Finding that out had been a stroke of pure luck.  They had been walking back from Quidditch practice when they noticed Tooru’s cat going straight towards the tree.  They had all rushed over but were too far away to do anything.  They had all waited to watch the cat die but she smoothly avoided the trees attack and then jumped up onto a small notch on the trunk of the tree, watching them all with a bored look.

 

They had walked over, of course they had, and investigated that the notch was right next to a hole in the ground.  The cat had jumped off the notched and into the hole and they all were forced to follow or be smashed by the tree.

 

Tooru’s cat appeared beside them as they ran towards the Whomping Willow as the sun dipped below the horizon.  She dashed in front of them, dodging the branches once more with ease and stood on top of the notch that froze the tree.  There was a sense of pride coming from Tooru.

 

Tetsurou found it the easiest to get through the tunnel, Tooru complained loudly from his spot on Koutarou’s back.  Tetsurou felt almost giddy until he was up in the Shrieking Shack and he staring at the back of a creature far larger than any of them.

 

Tetsurou froze as he watched the creatures back heave, he could make out its backbone and count each rib.  It was half human and half wolf but really neither of them.  Some kind of unfinished nightmare creature that let out a coughing-growl noise that raised every hair on Tetsurou’s suddenly too-small body.

 

The creature turned and Tetsurou wanted to run, run, _run damnit!_  But his animal brain was telling him sudden movement was bad, running meant things chase you.  Tetsurou’s human brain reminded him that werewolf bites didn’t stop bleeding until you put silver and dittany on them, that the scars lasted a lifetime, that they weren't accepted in normal wizarding world.

 

The creature made a low sound, something eerie and soft and heartbreaking all at once.  Large scratches already covered his torso, news ones on old ones on even older ones.

 

Tooru’s cat hopped up onto a window sill, staring over at the werewolf who watched it.  Long arms dropped, blood dripped from his claws as he watched the cat, let out another low-whine.  The cat reached one paw up, carefully placing it on the werewollf's muzzle, full of sharp teeth that made even wolf-Koutarou’s looked like a child's plaything.

 

The werewolf didn't attack the cat, just leaned closer and let the cat rub up against him, purring loudly and suddenly Tetsurou could breathe again.

 

Tetsurou thought about Daichi curled up on his bed, looking so much younger and smaller than he usually did.  He thought about how Daichi always acted so much older than anyone else, how there was a weight he carried around, a distrust hidden deep under warm smiles and welcoming words.  Tetsurou thought about Daichi going to this lonely old shack every month, locking himself away and then tearing himself apart every full moon because he was lonely.

 

Koutarou bounded over to Daichi, weaved himself between his legs and yipped at the much bigger werewolf.  Daichi watched him before bending down to all fours to play with Koutarou.  He never broke skin and he was never too rough, though his hefty weight put dents in the walls and left scratches on the floor.

 

Tetsurou let himself slink over, joining in on the fun.  He learned as the night went on that he didn't have to be as careful as he had imagined.  Even though this form was new to him, it was like he had this form his entire life.  He knew his own strength when he didn't think too hard about it, knew not to let his claws out, knew that there was something dangerous inside him but he also knew he was safe.  They were all safe.

 

They played until Daichi was tired out, curling up on the ground near Tetsurou.  Tooru gave a warning noise as the inside of the shack started to light up with the rising sun.  They had agreed to leave before the sun was up.  They figured a professor or someone had to check on Daichi and they didn’t want to be caught.  Undoubtedly they would insist that they never go back to Daichi.

 

“Tetsu!  You’re a Nundu!”  Koutarou pounced on Tetsurou as soon as they had changed back in the bathroom.

 

“A what?”  Tetsurou asked as he pushed Koutarou out and stretched his sore muscles.

 

“A Nundu!”  Koutarou laughed.  “Don’t you pay any attention in Care of Magical Creatures?”

 

“Did Bokuto Koutarou ask me if I pay attention in class?”  Tetsurou asked Tooru who scoffed.

 

“They are crazy powerful!  It’s said only a hundred wizards can subdue just one of them!  They can breath poison that can take out an entire village and you just turned into one!”  Koutarou shook Tetsurou.

 

“Show off.”  Tooru muttered before they made their way, silently, back to their room.

 

Tetsurou remembered briefly thinking about turning into an animal that could help Daichi, that could handle the speed and strength of a werewolf.  Intent in magic mattered.

 

 

 

 

\-----------------

 

 

 

 

They were all a nervous bundle of energy until Daichi showed up at class.  He was pale, his freckles standing out on his face, but he looked better.  Then again maybe Tetsurou was reading into it, wanting Daichi to look better, for them having made his life easier, even if it was just by a fraction.

 

Daichi didn't act any differently.  Tetsurou knew that people remember what they did when they were a werewolf, whether they took the potion to keep their human mind in control or not, they remembered what happened the next day.  So Daichi knew he had played with a large black wolf, a falcon, and a huge magical cat.  He had to remember.  But he didn’t act as if anything different happened.

 

Tetsurou was almost discouraged as they all headed back to their room after their game with Ravenclaw.  They had won, Tooru had found the Snitch and that had appeased him since Gryffindor had actually been behind in points before that.

 

Koutarou led them into their room and was immediately hit by a pillow.  It was great aim, hitting him straight in the face.

 

“Get in here and shut the door!”  Daichi commanded, though he had another pillow in his hand, looking like he was contemplating throwing it.  He looked livid, angrier than Tetsurou had ever seen him before.  They all hurried inside and shut the door.  “What were you thinking?  What in the hell could you possibly have been thinking?”

 

“You knew it was us?”  Koutarou asked, immediately perking up but then hiding behind Tooru and Tetsurou when Daichi’s full glare was turned on him.  Tetsurou took back everything he said before.  Sure werewolves were the creatures of nightmares but an angry Daichi was far scarier.

 

“Who else would it be!”  Daichi shouted before glancing around at the walls nervously, settling against his bed as if suddenly tired.  “You don’t understand- how could you- what if I did something to you?”

 

“We read that we-” Tooru suddenly stopped and glanced at the walls himself.  “We read that _they_ don’t attack animals.”

 

“So you just decided to test that theory?”  Daichi looked sick and Tetsurou wished he would go back to being angry.  “Do you know how much misinformation there is about-about-” His mouth thinned and Tetsurou knew Daichi wasn’t saying werewolf because he was worried about being overheard, but because he couldn’t say it.

 

“We’ve been horrible friends,” Koutarou sat next to Daichi, rubbing along his tensed shoulders and Tetsurou felt himself feeling jealous for the easy contact.  Tetsurou’s family were not at all physical people, there were no hugs or kisses to the cheek.  They even sat far away from each other at their own dinner table.  A table far too large for four people.

 

“We did the research and we found a solution that would benefit all of us.”  Tooru shrugged as if he hadn’t been the biggest complainer during this whole thing but when it came down to it Tooru took the potion and he went to the shack with them.  The werewolf version of Daichi seemed to be hypnotized by hawk-Tooru flying around in the confined space, sitting back on his hind legs and watching him with something akin to childlike innocence.

 

“We knew what we were getting into, we accepted the consequences if anything were to happen.  It would have been our fault, not yours.”  Tetsurou sat on his own bed, facing the other three who were gathered on Daichi’s bed.  Daichi rubbed hard at his face, a face without any new wounds.

 

“Okay.”  Daichi said softly then repeated it louder before looking around at them.  “Alright, show me your Animagi forms, I know you want to.  How did you manage to keep it a secret? You lot are the worst at keeping secrets.”  Daichi meant Koutarou was awful at it but he was too kind just to single the one boy out.

 

“Not this secret, this secret we take to our grave!  We even did an oath with-” Tooru punched Koutarou who wheezed out a breath.

 

“I can’t believe you guys.”  Daichi was exasperated but he was clearly trying to hide a smile.

 

“So even if we wanted to tell someone, we couldn’t.”  Tetsurou said with a shrug.  They had meant to keep that part a secret.  They were well aware they were 15 year old boys, that sometimes they let emotions get the best of them and none of them wanted to ever use Daichi’s affliction to hurt him, so they had made a blood oath coated with magic.  Tetsurou had seen his father do the spell before and it hurt but he didn’t regret it.

 

“How did you guys find out?  Did I do something obvious?”  Daichi suddenly worried but they all were shaking their heads.

 

“I wouldn’t have connected it if I hadn’t remembered my dad helping a man who had been bitten when I was younger.”  Koutarou explained, not many people had personal dealings with werewolves.  Tetsurou vaguely remembered a book, a book that Keiji had closed and left on the couch in a very un-Keiji like action.  Keiji never left his stuff about but he had been rather angry with all of them.

 

“So our Animagi forms, mine is obviously the best.”  Tooru puffed his chest out.

 

“You’re just a bird, I’m a wolf!”  Koutarou argued back.

 

“An overgrown dog!  I can fly.”  Tooru and Koutarou continued to bicker while Daichi watched on in amusement and exasperation.

 

 

 

 

\-------------------

 

 

 

 

Things went well for a while.  Despite Tetsurou’s massive size in his Nundu form he was completely silent, Koutarou with his dark fur tended to blend into the darkness seamlessly, and while they realized Tooru’s Red-Shouldered Hawk wasn’t even native to their land no one really questioned another bird flying around.

 

If they tended to be a little late they would find werewolf-Daichi pacing and beginning to claw at himself, making soft mewling noises that were hard on the heart.  He perked up immediately when spotting them and they had even gone out of the shack a couple times to run around.  The general shape of a werewolf was a bit off and it didn’t look like it should work but Daichi was surprisingly fast and when Tooru had landed in a tree one time, yelling down at them, they learned that werewolves were efficient climbers too.  Which was a little terrifying.  Though they seemed to be afraid of water, or at least Daichi was.

 

Sometimes they successfully tired out the werewolf to the point where he would curl up against Tetsurou, using the dangerous magical creature as a makeshift pillow, and collapse like an over-sized puppy.  Tetsurou felt embarrassed about that, though he couldn’t quite pinpoint why.

 

Classes continued and they prepared for the final game against Hufflepuff.

 

Everything was good, great even until they were making their way towards the Shrieking Shack through the forest.  Sometimes they used the tunnel underneath the Whomping Willow but the creatures in the forest tended to stay far away from Tetsurou in his Animagi-form.  Though Koutarou always claimed they stayed away because of him.  Tetsurou had to admit he hadn’t thought wolves were quite so large.  When they were both transformed Koutarou felt small next to Tetsurou, but when Koutarou shifted to his wolf-form when Tetsurou was human he was taller than him when Koutarou stood on his hind legs.  Wolves were large, just not as large as a Nundu.

 

It was their last month at Hogwarts, the last month of spending the full moon with Daichi until they all went home for the summer, when they spotted a dark figure moving at the edge of the forest.  Actually it was Koutarou who heard him, his pointed ear flickering before he stood perfectly still.

 

Tooru took off high into the sky, circling around the figure from above silently before coming back to land on Koutarou’s back, anger and disbelief radiating off of him.  It was easy for Tetsurou to sneak forward, Koutarou was a little louder beside him but the forest was full of all different kinds of noises so that hardly mattered.

 

Kaito?

 

Kaito!  Tetsurou understood Tooru’s anger and disbelief because it was definitely Kaito lurking through the woods, heading towards the very same direction the shack was in.  He was close, they could make out the shack right on top of the next hill.

 

Tetsurou’s big body had crouched lower without him realizing it and something else had happened.  The skin around his neck bellowed out just like frogs, filling not with air but with poison.  The skin around his muzzle pulled back and he was poised to attack before he even really registered it but Koutarou nipped at his nose, gently chastising him before dancing backwards on nervous feet.

 

Even Tooru had a feeling of horror coming from him as Tetsurou shook out his head, feeling the poison become inactive in his body.  Koutarou shook, getting Tooru to hop off before he stalked over to Kaito.

 

Tetsurou lost track of the wolf, he blended in perfectly with the shadows the forest provided.  Suddenly Kaito dipped down and then Tetsurou watched, in shock, as he was dragged out of the forest kicking and screaming.  Koutarou was fast, covering the distance towards the large lake in no time at all before jerking Kaito into it.  Kaito flew in with a splash as Koutarou started running towards the shack.

 

If Tetsurou could laugh he would have, Tooru let out a cackling call from above them as they all made their way towards the shack.  They quickly ushered werewolf-Daichi out of the shack, just in case Kaito came back, and deep into the forest.  Tooru flew above, keeping watch while Tetsurou and Koutarou played a game of tag with a happy werewolf.

 

The next day things came to crash.  Tetsurou knew he had been mad last night but seeing Kaito clearly stalking Daichi in the halls was enough to make all those dark feelings come back.  Kaito couldn't win against Tetsurou and Tooru, they were too clever and quick for anyone to properly insult them, and throwing insults at Koutarou was like kicking a kitten.  So he had decided to go for Daichi.  Daichi, who was obviously hiding something with his illness, who the professors let things slide for, who was friends with just about everyone he met, including Keiji.  Keiji might not like the other three, but he was good friends with Daichi.

 

Tetsurou knew the little weasel was just clever enough, just vindictive enough to find out Daichi’s secret and spread it around the school.  And that made Tetsurou see red.  Suddenly all the harsh words his parents said about him, acting like he wasn’t even in the room when they said horrible things, the unanswered letters from his friends during the summer, the way people talk and whisper about him, saying he was bound to be a dark wizard, all those things come back to him.

 

Tetsurou was patient though, he waited until Care of Magical Creatures had ended, when the class had separated and Daichi went off to his favorite spot underneath a pink Wisteria tree to sit and study before his next class.  Tetsurou waited for Kaito to come walking, hiding behind castle walls and trees and bushes, peering over at an oblivious Daichi as Shouyou and Tobio nervously walked up, most likely asking him for help.

 

“Well well well, what do we have here?”  Tetsurou asked, speaking directly into Kaito’s ear from behind.  Kaito jumped and spun around, flushing red and glaring at them from his beady little eyes.

 

“Ugh, Tetsu how did you get that close to him?  I can smell him from here.”  Tooru said in a sickeningly sweet voice.

 

“What do you want?”  Kaito hissed out, trying not to gain any further attention though the few students milling about have started to look over.

 

“We want you to leave our friend alone.”  Koutarou spoke up, for once looking deadly serious.

 

“Do you have a crush _Kay-too_?”  Tooru asked, purposefully mispronouncing Kaito’s name.  “How absolutely disgusting.  Are you going to confess to him?  Aren’t you tired of people laughing at you little boy?”

 

“I don’t like him!”  Kaito shouted, lip curling into a snarl.  “And how can you call me disgusting when you can’t even win one Quidditch game?  I heard they are going to replace you with a second year _Tooru_.  And you, your own parents don’t even want you around so you can’t even speak.”  Tetsurou knew he was about to move onto Koutarou but he was about to let that happen.

 

“Are we speaking about parents now?  How about we talk about yours Kaito, oh wait you don’t even know who your own mother is.  My parents might not want me home for the holidays but at least my mother didn’t try to drown me and should we even talk about that alcoholic dad of yours?”  Tetsurou questioned and he suddenly realized how much like his father he sounded like.  The fight drained out of him but he needed to drive one more point home but there were too many people gathered around now so he stepped close and lowered his voice.  “Stay away from Daichi.”  Tetsurou turned around to walk away and end this, he can see he had gained Daichi’s attention off in the distance and knew he was in for a lecture.

 

There was a gasp from the side before Tetsurou’s eyes widened when he saw Koutarou’s hand go up, wand raised.

 

“Stupefy!”  Koutarou shouted and Tetsurou whipped around to see Kaito on the ground, wand in hand.  He was going to attack Tetsurou when his back was turned.

 

“Slimy little git!”  Tooru shouted, shouts of agreement rising around him as he took out his own wand.  Tetsurou felt like everything was slow motion as Tooru chanted a spell, watched as Kaito rose upside down in the air.  The spell must have grabbed onto his trousers and not his body because the too large pants slipped off and he hung suspended from them, the trousers caught on his large feet.

 

“Tooru let him go-” Koutarou said softly, worriedly from behind Tetsurou but he was interrupted.

 

“What’s going on here?”  A voice boomed before Kaito was dropped.  Ukai quickly chanted the counterspell, unfreezing Kaito and helping the boy up.  He was a furious shade of red, his eyes downcast as students quickly scattered.  Tetsurou stayed frozen to his spot.

 

“You three, headmasters off now!”  Ukai shouted, not even sparing them a look as he turned his attention back to Kaito.

 

The walk to the headmaster's office was excruciating.  The talk with Professor Nekomata even more so.  He never seemed mad, never raised his voice or looked at them in disgust.  He listened patiently to their story but Tetsurou knew no matter what they would not come out looking like they were in the right.  Tooru had taken it too far but Tetsurou had started it all to begin with.

 

“I do hope you understand how harmful your actions have been.”  Nekomata finally spoke up.  “Not just to that poor boy, and despite your thoughts on him being otherwise he is a poor boy, but to those around you.  You have been given a rare opportunity that most only can wish they had.  You have a close bond-” For some reason Tetsurou was almost positive that the headmaster knew of their full moon visits.  “And the other students listen to you, they follow your lead.  Do you really want to leave a legacy of fear and bullying behind you?”

 

“No sir.”  They all answered as one.

 

“Words aren’t enough anymore boys.”  Nekomata sat back in his chair.  “The term is almost up but you are suspended from any further Quidditch matches.  You will instead help various professors with their end of term chores and anything else they ask of you.  Given that there are no more situations like this you may try out for the team again next year but you will continue to help the professors for two months into your fifth year.”

 

They all agreed because what else could they do?

 

Gryffindor was slaughtered by Hufflepuff during the last game of the term.  Everyone blamed the three of them for being suspended and Tetsurou couldn’t blame them.  Daichi went silent on them once more and Tetsurou thought that was probably the worst punishment of them all.

 

Tetsurou went home that summer and for the first time he didn’t look forward to returning to school in the fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst, happy, angst. Don't worry it only gets happier from here on out! Hopefully the length of this chapter makes up for the shortness of the previous one!
> 
>  **audriel** thank you for editing this chapter!


	5. Fifth Year

**Fifth Year**

 

 

 

 

Tetsurou sits leaning against the outside of his house, trying to keep his breathing slow and calm.  Small breaths, in and out, without making any extra movements.  He picks out details to keep his mind occupied.  The sky is overcast, the lawn is perfectly kept.  No one could even tell there were children living at the house at one point.  No toys, no swing set or tree house or tire swing.  Tetsurou didn’t even know what most of those things were until Tooru and Koutarou had told him.  Even Daichi had admitted to having a tire swing.

 

Daichi didn’t talk about his childhood so Tetsurou had to gather bits and pieces that Daichi mentioned in passing.  Someone had bitten Daichi when he was just a kid but the more notable thing was that someone else had to have known that silver and dittany closed up a werewolf bite.  Kids simply did not survive werewolf attacks, Tetsurou had done a bit of research.  They were so small and fragile.  Most adults didn’t even survive attacks because werewolves didn’t aim to wound or maim, they wanted to kill.

 

Someone had tried to kill Daichi sometime before he was eleven.  Tetsurou’s breath picked up and he cringed, leaning towards his left but that only made it worse.

 

“Tetsurou you absolute git!  You slimy arsehole!  Get out here right now!”  Tetsurou sat up straight, feeling his left side protest but he knew that voice.  He had never heard that voice get that loud or that angry before, especially not towards him, but he knew that voice.  “Tetsurou!”  Tetsurou stood up, used the house for support as his vision swam in front of him before he made his way to the front of the house.

 

Luckily his parents were gone.  Tetsurou was beginning to realize they wouldn’t hesitate in hexing a loud teenage boy to death.

 

“Kou, calm down he might not even be home.”  Tooru’s said as Tetsurou rounded the hedges and came into view of the end of the drive, where big iron gates kept anyone out.

 

“What are you lot doing here?”  Tetsurou asked, forcing himself to keep his hand away from his left side.  It’s not as if he’s never been injured before, he had played Quidditch for years after all.

 

“What are we doing here?”  Koutarou voice was booming, even more so than usual.  “What are we doing here!”  Tetsurou kept his face blank, wondering if this was how their friendship ended.  It would top off the best year of his life so far, sarcasm intended.

 

“You could have just said you didn’t want to talk to us, you didn’t have to attack Gidget.”  Tooru explained, ice in his own voice, when it became apparent Koutarou was too frustrated to explain himself.

 

“Attack Gidget?”  Tetsurou asked in confusion.

 

“We just figured you were busy and that’s why you never answered back!”  Koutarou shouted, banging a hand against the gate.  “You could have just said you didn’t want us writing to you but why does that even matter?  Don’t want your bloody family to know your friends with us, is that it?”

 

“You’ve been writing to me?”  Tetsurou asked, feeling like an idiot just for parroting his friends words right back at them but it didn’t make sense.  It didn’t make- oh.  Oh no, it made perfect sense.

 

“Kou I don’t think Tetsu’s the one who attacked Gidget.”  Tooru said after a moment of listening to Koutarou’s scream-ranting.

 

“What?”  Koutarou asked, coming to a dead stop.

 

“I haven’t been getting any letters from you, I never have.”  Tetsurou said, stepping closer to the gate and cringing as pain shot up his left side.

 

“But-” Koutarou frowned, not comprehending what was happening but Tooru seemed to catch on quickly.

 

“Why are you babying your left side?”  Tooru asked, his tone far too innocent to be real.

 

“It’s nothing, I fell.”  Tetsurou shrugged it off.  “Is Gidget okay?”  The little owl had spent a lot of time nesting in Tetsurou’s hair over the years, never growing much bigger than he was as a baby.  Tetsurou couldn’t believe his parents would hurt- but then again he could believe it.

 

“His wing is broken and he’s scared to go outside.”  Koutarou deflated as he pressed himself against the gate.  “You really haven’t been getting any of our letters?  You didn’t hurt Gidget?”

 

“Do you think I would Koutarou?”  Tetsurou asked, had to know the answer to the question.  Koutarou hesitated, frowned and really looked as if he was thinking it over.  Tetsurou couldn’t blame him, though it hurt.  It’s not as if Tetsurou had been very kind to Kaito, he had nearly used the Nundu’s poison when he saw him lurking outside the shack during their fifth year.

 

“No,” Koutarou sighed.  “Did someone hurt you?”  Tetsurou was surprised by the sudden question and embarrassingly enough he felt heat pool behind his eyes.  He wasn’t even sure the last time he cried was, didn’t think he was even capable of it any longer.  “Hey hey hey Tetsu, have you ever been over Tooru’s house?  It’s great, his older sister pulls teeth out of people's mouth and they pay her for it.”

 

“That’s not- I mean you’re not wrong.”  Tooru grumbled.

 

“He also has all these photo albums because he was going to be a child model, there’s a thousand of them.”  Koutarou exclaimed and Tetsurou couldn’t help but smile, just a little, at that.

 

“Shut up Koutarou!”  Tooru hissed, shoving the other teen away from the gate.  “You should come back with us.”  Tetsurou felt his throat tighten up at the offer.

 

“Yeah!  And then you can come to my house after, we have a ton of room and Tooru is going to Spain with his parents for the rest of summer so I’ll be so bored if you don’t come!”  Koutarou shoved Tooru back so he could press himself up against the gate again.  “And Daichi is going to be spending a week at my house.”  His voice was almost a sing-song and Tetsurou narrowed his eyes at that.  Tooru shoved Koutarou again.

 

“Koutarou you loud mouth!”

 

“What?  What!  He has to know!”

 

“Obviously not!  You’re so oblivious.”

 

“Mean!  So mean, I’m going to tell Hajime all about this.”  Tooru turned bright red and stormed off.  “Hurry up Tetsu!  I told my parents we were only going into town.”

 

“He lied, we didn’t go into town at all.”  Koutarou explained before motioning Tetsurou back towards the house.

 

“We’re alright?”  Tetsurou asked as he took a step backwards.

 

“Yeah, sorry-”  But Tetsurou was already shaking his head as he made his way back.  His brother doesn’t say anything, just watches Tetsurou pack, standing a silent vigil from the doorway of his bedroom.  Tetsurou is sure he should say something but his ribs pound with the beat of his heart and all he wants to do is get out of that too big, silent house.

 

 

 

 

\-----------------

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Is this how driving in a car normally goes?”  Tetsurou asks as the fifth car makes a loud noise as they speed around them.

 

“Yes!”  Tooru grumbles before cussing out the sixth car that passes them.

 

“Tooru said that’s how other drivers show their appreciation.”  Koutarou says from his spot in the front seat.  He had called something called ‘shotgun’ and proceeded to tell Tetsurou he had to sit in the back, as if it was some sort of horrible punishment.  “Apparently Tooru thinks I’m an idiot.”  Tooru and Tetsurou laugh at Koutarou’s deadpanned voice.

 

“No, really, they like it.”  Tooru tried to defend.

 

“Hajime said that Tooru shouldn’t be driving with a permit and he was going to get us all killed.”  Koutarou explained.

 

“Who’s Hajime?  And what’s a permit?  Tooru are you allowed to be driving?  Who’s car is this?”  Tetsurou asked, wondering if he should have asked more questions before he got into the car.

 

“Iwaizumi Hajime!”  Koutarou explained as Tooru yelled at them for distracting him.

 

“Why are you talking to the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team?”  Tetsurou felt completely lost, it was the first time feeling that way and he didn’t really enjoy it.

 

“Because he’s Tooru’s nextdoor neighbor.”  Koutarou let out a whoop as they went up on two wheels while taking a corner.

 

“What?”  Tetsurou asked, feeling his stomach somewhere in his throat.  “Since when?”

 

“Since forever?”  Koutarou waved at some people on the street that were not yelling the nicest things.  “They were best friends growing up but Tooru’s magic came in early and he had to stop being friends with him because the Iwaizumi’s are muggles, except for Hajime, which was a surprise for everyone and now it’s crazy awkward.”

 

“Shut up Koutarou.”  Tooru tried to hit him but the car swerved violently and he had to put both hands back on the wheel.

 

“Tooru wants to be his friend again but he’s kind of shitty at making friends.”  Koutarou said in a whisper, or what was a whisper for Koutarou.  Tetsurou laughed despite his protesting side as Tooru yelled at both of them.

 

 

 

 

\-------------------

 

 

 

 

“Wow, you’re right, he’s awful.”  Tetsurou stage-whispers to Koutarou.  Tooru’s parents had cheered, actually loudly cheered, when their son had returned with Tetsurou then declared it was time for a BBQ.  Tetsurou was set up in the back yard with an ice pack and orders not to move.  He had told the Oikawa’s he had gotten hurt while practicing on his broom, which probably would have passed by if Tooru’s parents weren’t as observant as their son.  They let it pass though and treated him gently.

 

“It’s almost so sad that it’s funny.”  Koutarou sat next to Tetsurou, paper plate bending with the amount of food he’s piled on it.  “Almost.”  They both watched Tooru hang off of Hajime, whining loudly about the shorter boy being a brute.

 

“So he’s in love with him?”  Tetsurou asked because it honestly could not be any more obvious if Tooru wore a flashing sign.

 

“Oh,” Koutarou stopped eating for a moment before snorting.  “Yeah that makes sense.”  They laughed together as Hajime easily flipped Tooru over his shoulder and onto the ground, leaving him sprawled out.

 

“Mom!”  Tooru whined from his prone position.

 

“Honey get off the ground, you’re getting bugs in your hair.”  Tooru’s mom said distractedly as she turned back to her conversation with Hajime’s moms.

 

“It’s a good thing Hajime feels the same.”  Koutarou says as he finishes off the food on his plate and Tetsurou gives him a confused look.  “Well he wouldn’t let him behave that way if he didn’t feel something towards Tooru, right?”  Koutarou then stood up after dropping that bomb and walked over to Tooru’s dad, asking for seconds.  Tetsurou looked over where Hajime was now sitting next to Tooru on the ground, threatening to chop off fingers if Tooru steals any of his food, but Tooru pouts until Hajime places the plate between them and they both eat off of it.

 

“Huh.”  Tetsurou says, mostly to himself.  Wondering when Bokuto Koutarou of all people became more observant than him.  Or perhaps Koutarou always was and Tetsurou has only ever been able to see people's weaknesses and not their strengths.

 

 

 

 

\-----------------------

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bokuto’s welcome Tetsurou like he’s their long lost son.  Tetsurou had thought no home could be warmer than the Oikawa’s but Koutarou’s is, and he has a sudden understanding of just how Koutarou came to have such a big heart.  It would be hard not to have an overflowing heart when you’re surrounded by so much clear affection.  The Bokuto’s love Tetsurou simply because Koutarou loves him, and that’s enough for them though it’s confusing to Tetsurou.

 

“Your face,” Tooru is snorting with laughter so Tetsurou pins him to the floor and smothers him with a pillow.  “My hair!”

 

“I’m going to hex your hair to fall out!”  Tetsurou threatens.

 

“Just because your hair is a mess doesn’t mean you have to be this way!  Jealousy is an ugly emotion Tetsu!”  Tooru, the wiggly bastard, managed to squirm his way out of Tetsurou’s hold.  “No wonder the Chasers are always scoring on us, you can’t even hold me down!”  Tetsurou made a move for his wand, though he’d never actually use it against Tooru no matter how annoying the other got, but Tooru was off running.

 

There’s something a little raw about Tooru, something dark and a bit ugly.  Tetsurou doesn’t say anything about it because he knows there’s something dark and ugly inside him too that he hasn’t really come to terms with.  Spending the remainder of his summer at the Bokuto’s lets him pretend he’s someone else, at least for a while, someone who might have grown up with supportive parents who don’t care about blood status or who Tetsurou’s friends are, as long as they are good friends.

 

“Daichi!”  Tooru shouts, dodging behind the other teen as Tetsurou comes running down the hall after him.  Koutarou’s father laughs, patting Daichi and Tooru on the shoulder before going to the kitchen to help his wife with dinner.  “Stand here, he won’t hex me if you’re in front of me.”

 

“I’ve just gotten here,” Daichi sighs, mock exasperation as he stands right in front of Tooru.  Tooru has to squat done to hide fully behind the smaller teen.

 

“Why are you so small Daichi?”  Tooru asks, which is just the exact wrong thing to say.  Daichi pulls away from him, giving Tetsurou the go ahead to put Tooru in a headlock and mess up his hair as best he can.  Daichi is the shortest out of all of them, Tooru had been the tallest for a year or two until Koutarou had shot up suddenly, he was even taller than Tetsurou now though he hadn’t noticed yet.

 

“I’ve got snacks!”  Koutarou yelled as he made his way down the hallway with a plate.  He had gone with his dad to pick up Daichi, they would all spend their last week of summer at the Bokuto’s before heading off to the train station for school.  Tetsurou let Tooru go in order to grab Daichi’s trunk and followed Koutarou towards his room.

 

“Koutarou, about your parents- and I- is this really okay?”  Daichi asked hesitantly but Koutarou was already making dismissive noises.  Koutarou made a lot of noises, sound effects more than words, and they had all gotten pretty good at deciphering them.

 

“It’s fine.”  Koutarou said as he placed the plate of snacks on a low table in his room.  Tetsurou’s room back home could have been a hotel room with all the personality he was allowed to add to it.  Koutarou’s room, while still being surprisingly spotless, was clearly lived in by a teenager with eclectic tastes.

 

“But they don’t know about me, about what I am.”  Daichi explained further but it was clearly an argument they have already had because Koutarou was waving him off as Tetsurou put Daichi’s trunk next to his own.

 

“My dads known you two seconds and already tried to adopt you four different times.”  Koutarou shrugged, looking like he couldn’t figure out if he wanted to be hurt by that or not.  Tetsurou was beginning to realize that Koutarou had a lot of emotions, and sometimes he had a hard time to sorting through them.  The last month of school hadn’t helped with that either, Koutarou wasn’t use to being disliked or treated poorly.

 

The week passes far too quickly.  Daichi forces them to at least start on their readings and Koutarou only agrees when Daichi agrees to play Quidditch with them.  Turns out Daichi is a great defensive player and is rather quick and steady on a broom.  They all shake and yell at him, good naturedly of course.

 

Sometimes Tetsurou worries about being too loud or even just too present for Koutarou’s parents.  But they never seem annoyed or put out to have a house full of rambunctious teenage boys.

 

They see the teens off at the train station, tight hugs given to all of them.  Tetsurou feels better when he see’s Daichi’s surprised face at the warm embrace because he had been shocked too.  Honestly he wasn’t even sure if his father had ever hugged him and his mother hadn’t done so since he was fairly young.

 

Settling on the train leads them all to come to the same conclusion that this is Daichi’s first time on the train.  Tetsurou can tell the other boy is hiding his excitement, they are 15 after all and no 15 year old allows themselves to become overwhelmed by something that everyone else is already use too.  But they show him around and get sweets off the trolley, taking them away from Koutarou when his leg starts bouncing.  Tetsurou slouches next to Daichi, leaning most of his weight against the other boy and laughing as Koutarou explains a new move he wants to try out on his broom, his arms throwing themselves wide and hitting Tooru often in his exuberance.

 

 

 

 

\-------------------

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Only people who have seen death can see Thestrals.”  Tooru says in a low voice, propping his chin on Tetsurou’s shoulder as he stands behind him, both of them watching Daichi carefully pet the air.  Daichi steps back as the carriage is pulled forward and the next one rolls up.

 

“You can come with us if you want to.”  Tetsurou turns at the sound of Koutarou’s voice, an octave lower than his normal tone.  He expects to see some lonely second year or perhaps Shouyou, Koutarou had basically adopted the younger boy, but he’s surprised to see Koutarou standing in front of Kaito.

 

“What?”  Kaito brushes off the hand that Koutarou was trying to help him with.  His robes are already covered in dirt and Tetsurou can tell by the small group of fourth years close by, snickering and rolling their eyes, that one or more of them had probably pushed or tripped Kaito.   That is not a surprise but the fact that Koutarou is helping him is.  “Do you think I’m a fool?”  Tooru snorts, quietly, from beside Tetsurou.

 

“Come on you lot, get into the carriage.”  Daichi calls out to the fourth years, making sure they are loaded into the carriage and on their way before turning back to his friend expectantly.

 

“We’ve got room if you want.”  Koutarou tried again, hands buried deep in his trouser pockets.

 

“What are you trying to pull?”  Kaito asked, acid practically dripping from his tone.  “Get away from me.”  Daichi pulled Koutarou towards an empty carriage, pushing and prodding them all into it before climbing in himself and giving Koutarou a long look.

 

“I’m not pulling anything Daichi.”  Koutarou settled back against the seat, looking off into the dark forest.  “Nekomata asked us last year if what we wanted to be known for was being bullies and that’s not- I don’t want that.  I know it might be too late to make good with Kaito but I’m not going to stop trying.”  He turned back to them, gave them all a hesitant smile.

 

“We’ll have to make up for all the Quidditch practice and games we missed last year anyways.”  Tooru said with a sniff and a shrug.

 

“Plus we have to start getting ready for N.E.W.Ts.”  Daichi laughed when they all groaned at him, complaining they were only in their fifth year.

 

 

 

 

\-----------------

 

 

 

 

Koutarou became their Quidditch captain, which surprised only Koutarou really.  Tetsurou watched with a cackling laugh as Tooru tried to decide if he was happy for his friend or jealous.  The scale was tipped over into happy when Koutarou asked Tooru to be his vice, stroking the other boys ego when he said he needed Tooru’s observant attitude to help him form a strong team that would finally beat Hufflepuff.

 

True to Koutarou’s word he stopped any form of bullying towards Kaito, at least what he saw of it.  Kaito was still a nasty little bludger but Koutarou wasn’t ever deterred.  

 

“Professor Takeda?”  Tetsurou asked when the classroom had emptied out.  He had waved off his friends, telling them he would meet them in the great hall for lunch after he talked to the potions professor.

 

“Hello Tetsurou!  How can I help you?”  Takeda asked, pushing his glasses up his nose as he blinked owlishly up at Tetsurou from behind his desk.  Tetsurou knew the professor was even older than Professor Ukai, but sometimes he barely looked out of school himself.

 

“I know that you require anyone who wants to take N.E.W.T level classes in their seventh year to brew a complex potion and I know you have a list of such potions but I was wondering if the Wolfsbane Potion could possibly be substituted on there?”  Tetsurou had never felt so nervous in his, admittedly short, life.  He was worried that he was giving too much away but he was almost positive that Professor Takeda knew about Daichi.

 

Tetsurou had been doing research since they got back to school about the Wolfsbane Potion.  It was complex, the ingredients rare and dangerous so many werewolves couldn’t even afford it.  Daichi had been taking it for years but he had let it slip that he was worried about what he would do after school.  Tetsurou thought that if he could learn to make it then that could cut out the middle-man and Daichi wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.

 

“That’s a very dangerous potion,” Takeda said softly, suddenly sharp eyes studying Tetsurou.

 

“I’m aware of that sir.”  Tetsurou had a knack for potions.  Daichi was good enough, he pulled through with good grades and has never melted a cauldron, but the potion was beyond his abilities.  Takeda suddenly smiled, big and warm as he stood up straight.

 

“I’ll allow the substitution but first I need to test your abilities.”  Tetsurou agreed willingly to that.  Tetsurou would be given a potion to brew and once he proved that he could brew that one successfully several times then Professor Takeda would give him another potion, more complex than the last until he was sure Tetsurou could handle the Wolfsbane Potion.

 

This ate up most of Tetsurou’s free time but he continually came back to the potions room to continue on in the hopes of winning Takeda over.  Though he didn’t share this with anyone else, he didn’t want his friends to know if he ended up failing this.

 

 

 

 

\----------------

 

 

 

 

Tetsurou let Koutarou draw whiskers on his face with mud.  They were already covered in it so what was a bit more?  They had played a practice game against Slytherin and it had started downpouring before they had even mounted their brooms.  Neither team wanted to be outdone by calling it quits so they had played, and it had been one of the most enjoyable practice matches Tetsurou’s had in awhile.  He’s sure some of the players were keeping track of points, but mostly it had just descended into a group practice, everyone trying out new moves and accidentally scoring on their own team every once and awhile.

 

“Meow.”  Tetsurou said in his deepest most deadpanned voice, causing Koutarou to crack up with laughter.

 

The rain had gone and the sun was doing a fine job of drying the mud covering them into a fine, dirty army.

 

“Oi,” Tetsurou reached over, pulling and tugging as gently as he could at Koutarou’s mud-caked hair until he had gotten a favourable look and he started to laugh himself.  “You look like a great horned owl.”

 

“What?  Really?”  Koutarou hoped around excitedly, pulling Tetsurou towards the locker rooms where he could see for himself.  Tetsurou allowed himself to be pulled along, glancing over to see little Kageyama Tobio in a half-bow towards Tooru.  Tetsurou dug his heels into the ground, noting something completely off about his friends face but not sure what it was.  It could just be talking to Tobio, Tooru really had it in for the poor oblivious kid.  The kid had clear talent, he was going to be a real force one day but not until he got that attitude-

 

Tetsurou was too far away to stop Tooru as he raised a fist, his eyes empty of emotion.

 

Before Tooru could punch Tobio, Hajime appeared and grabbed Tooru’s wrist as Koutarou and Tetsurou skidded to a stop behind them.

 

“Hey hey hey-” Koutarou even cringed at the weak greeting.  “Come on kid, I’m not a seeker but I can still show you a couple things.  Where’s my sunshine son?”  Tobio allowed himself to be dragged off by Koutarou, who shot Tooru a confused look before going to look for Shouyou.

 

“Who the hell goes and hits their own damn teammate?”  Hajime used the grip of Tooru’s wrist to shove him backwards.  Tooru stumbled over his own feet, falling onto his rear in an unusually ungraceful lump.  “What is wrong with you?”

 

“I keep losing.”  Tooru said softly before he looked up at Hajime, eyes blazing.  “I keep losing to everyone!  How am I supposed to keep up with monsters like that?”  Tooru motioned to where Tobio had walked off but Tetsurou was pretty sure his friend was really talking about Ushijima Wakatoshi.

 

“There are seven players on a team.”  Hajime said slowly.  Tooru argued once more but Hajime reached down, grabbed a handful of Tooru’s collar and yanked him up only to headbutt him.  Tooru was sent sprawling back on the ground but now his nose was bleeding.  Tetsurou watched in shock and awe, not sure if he should intervene, definitely not wanting to be headbutted himself.  Figures a muggle-born would do something so barbaric as to headbutt someone.

 

“A victory or a loss isn’t your own Trashykawa!”  Hajime bellowed.  “You lose together, you win together.  You think you’re more important than the other people on your team?  You think you practice longer or harder than everyone else?  You think you’re better than them?”

 

“No.” Tooru answered slowly.

 

“Then get your damn head out of your ass!”  Hajime tossed his hands up in defeat.  “You want to beat Wakatoshi so badly then you do it as a team, the strongest team wins.  One person can only take a team so far.  Do you understand or do I need to hit you again?  For fucks sake like I don’t have enough to worry about with my own damn team.”  Hajime muttered lowly as he stomped off, leaving a shocked Testurou and Tooru behind.

 

“Do all muggle-borns have such filthy mouths?”  Tetsurou asked as he helped Tooru up.  “What did Tobio even ask you?”

 

“He wanted me to give him a private lesson!”  Tetsurou pushed Tooru back into the mud and walked off without him.

 

 

 

 

\-----------------

 

 

 

 

They found Kaito lurking outside the Shrieking Shack once again.  A small fight between Tetsurou and Koutarou emerged because Tetsurou wanted to murder the other boy until Tooru let out a warning call and they realized that Kaito had made it to the door of the Shack.  Koutarou bounded ahead but it was Tooru’s quick flying, and dive bombing Kaito, that saved them all really.

 

Or saved Kaito if he had actually managed to open the door.  Daichi took the potion but he had admitted that he’s never been around another person, never felt the bloodlust that drives werewolves to attack humans when they are fully transformed.  Who knows what a fully transformed werewolf would have done by a surprise visit.

 

Koutarou bared his teeth when Tetsurou tried to get close to Kaito.  Tetsurou knew that between a Nundu and a wolf who would win that fight but neither the human nor the magical creature part of him wanted to hurt Koutarou so he backed off and went into the shack to check on Daichi.  The distraction had cost them time and Daichi had paid for it, the long gashes in his back bleeding slowly as he curled up in a corner.

 

Tetsurou walked over on silent paws before he pushed right into Daichi’s space, allowed the long limbed werewolf to curl up against him.  Truthfully Tetsurou was the best suited to get close to the werewolf, though he had never hurt any of them.  The Nundu’s skin was more like a dragon's than a cat's, tough and hard like armor.

 

Morning came and Daichi’s body shifted back into his human form.  Tetsurou stayed transformed, wished for once his skin wasn’t hard and leathery but soft and warm as Daichi leaned against him and cried.

 

 

 

 

\-----------------

 

 

 

 

“Don’t go near him Tetsurou.”  Koutarou stood in Tetsurou’s way once more, but they were both admittedly more human now and the odds were in Koutarou’s favor.

 

“Lets just say for a moment I care about his worthless hyde, if he goes into that shack who knows what could happen?  What if Daichi attacks him, a single scratch, a bite could make him a werewolf, which is illegal to do.  You know as well as I do that Daichi would be kicked out of school and I think we’re all smart enough to figure out that all Daichi has is this school.”  Tetsurou tried to push past Koutarou again but the other boy wouldn’t budge.

 

“So what do you plan to do?”  Koutarou asked, eyebrows raised.  “Are you going to threaten him?  No we both know that won’t work.  You’d have to lay hands on him, or maybe hex him?  Curse him?  Why stop there, why not do an Unforgivable Curse?”

 

“Daichi-”

 

“Would never forgive us if we actually hurt him!”  Koutarou shouted.

 

“He’s right Tetsu.”  Tooru spoke up for the first time.  Daichi was still giving him the cold shoulder after he found out Tooru had nearly punched Tobio, and that was two weeks ago.  Tooru hadn’t done anything to Tobio since, though it’s not as if his childish antics towards the younger boy were very mature.

 

“If he finds out, if he actually gets proof of what he suspects then what?”  Tetsurou asked as Tooru and Koutarou exchanged looks.

 

“I can fly ahead and peck out his hair if he gets too close.”  Tooru offered.

 

“Only one of us actually needs to be with Daichi during the full moon, the other two can stand watch.”  Koutarou said with conviction.

 

Tetsurou didn’t have time to voice his objections because Daichi walked into their room.  He took a long look at all their faces, varying degrees of guilt and shame, before he let out a soft sigh and made his way slowly over to his bed.

 

“Can we skip the part where you try and convince me whatever you’re talking about is a good idea and go straight to the part where I tell you you’re all idiots and you don’t do the thing?”  Daichi kicked off his shoes before curling up on his bed, his back facing them.  Tetsurou hesitated a brief moment before shifting into his Nundu form and crawling up on the bed next to Daichi.  “Why?”  Daichi complained but didn’t protest further as Tetsurou settled next to him and stared pointedly at the other two boys over his back.

 

“I won’t let them do anything bad.”  Koutarou promised and Daichi let out a tired little huff of laughter.

 

“Do you three ever discuss your Animagi forms?”  Daichi asked, shifting a little closer to Tetsurou and his voice going a little soft as sleep tugged at him.  “Wolves are known to care for their sick when so many other animals abandon them, they take care of each others pups and they are loyal to their own pack.  Hawks are amazingly intelligent and great hunters, humans have been using them for centuries and some say once you gain the trust of one, you have them for life even if they fly far away.  They say one hundred wizards have to work together to take down one Nundu, but that story came from a single one who was protecting it’s own.  Imagine fighting one hundred wizards just to protect someone you loved.”  Daichi fell asleep quickly after that but they were all left a bit stunned.

 

Tetsurou had thought his own form came from the want of a teenage boy who only wanted to be big enough to protect itself from a werewolf.  Tetsurou had never thought of himself as a protector of others but was there really anything he wouldn’t do for his friends?

 

 

 

 

\---------------

 

 

 

 

Tetsurou watches in equal parts disgust and amusement as Tooru gushes over Hajime.  Tooru and Hajime were dating, which was a surprise to everyone except maybe Koutarou who had cheered at them, little bits of the pie he was eating spitting out.  Mostly everyone was confused about them, but Tetsurou had been there when Tooru had concocted the plan to get Iwaizumi Hajime to be his boyfriend.

 

“I’ll just tell everyone he already is my boyfriend and act like it until he eventually gives in.”  Tooru had announced as they all sat in chairs and couches around the fire.  Tetsurou had been busy falling asleep against Daichi when Tooru had told them his plan.

 

“That sounds like the worst plan ever.”  Daichi had commented without looking up from his homework.

 

Worst plan ever or not, it had worked.  Of course it drove Tooru completely crazy when Hajime didn’t even act a little be phased by it.  Several weeks passed until Tooru started yelling at Hajime and the Slytherin had shut him up with a kiss.

 

“You couldn’t have just asked me out like a normal person?  Or is this some sort of weird wizard-thing I don’t get?”  Hajime had asked after the kiss.

 

Now Tooru was whining loudly, draped across shorter boyfriend.  They lived next to each other but Hajime was going on a holiday with his family for the first month of summer and apparently an entire month away from him was too much.  At least for Tooru.

 

Despite the dramatics and the amusement Tetsurou should be feeling he felt something cold and hard in the pit of his stomach.  It should be the start of one of the best summers for him, he was officially living with the Bokuto’s and they had seemed ecstatic to have him.  Tooru had promised to show them around all the muggle-sites Tetsurou had never been too and Daichi was even coming to stay for a week at the end of summer.

 

So why did Tetsurou not want to leave?

 

“Here.”  Daichi was holding out a small box.  Tetsurou opened it and saw the small candied sweets inside.  He looked up but Daichi just shrugged as he watched Tooru and Hajime interact.  “You’ll probably have to listen to that the entire train ride.”

 

Tetsurou looked back into the box.  He wasn’t much of a sweets person but he was pretty sure these would be his new favorite.

 

“Oh,” Tetsurou exclaimed without meaning to, glad that Koutarou’s booming laugh covered up the noise as he came to a sudden realization.   _Oh_ , of course.  No wonder he wasn’t making fun of Tooru like he usually would because he was feeling much the same thing, just about being away from Daichi for the whole summer.

 

Part of it was concern, he still wasn’t sure what exactly Daichi did during the summer except start on the reading and study.  But most of it was because Tetsurou was pretty positive he was more than a little in love with the other teen.

 

“Oh,” Tetsurou said in distress as he ate one of the candies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has anyone else been writing and you have a good idea of where you want a story/chapter to go and then just... none of that happens? It gets completely away from you and you're just sat there with the smoking wreckage of your carefully laid plans behind you. No, no. Don't look at them. They are dead and gone now.


	6. Sixth Year

“You can’t kill him!”  Koutarou yelled as he dug through his trunk for another tie.  He had given his first one to Tetsurou, who was beginning to realize what it was like to have parents who did not buy everything for him.  It was something he hadn’t really allowed himself to think about for extended periods of time.

 

“Well,” Tetsurou said, drawing out the word and watching in amusement as Koutarou’s head popped up.  He had started styling his hair to look like a great horned owl and it was equal parts hilarious and horrifying.

 

“How can you possibly argue with that!”  Koutarou chucked a pillow at Tetsurou, who let it hit his stomach without dodging or blocking.  He continued to sprawl out on Daichi’s bed as Tooru sat on his own, looking over his homework before they headed off to class.  Daichi was in the infirmary, it was the day after the full moon and he usually never felt good enough to do much physical activities.  The previous night Kaito had attempted to get into the shack again, and Tetsurou had almost unleashed the Nundu’s poison.

 

“You said can’t.”  Tetsurou pointed out, to which Koutarou gave him a confused look.

 

“Technically he can kill him, what you meant to say was he shouldn’t kill him.”  Tooru spoke up for the first time from his spot before he stood up and started to gather his things.  Koutarou spotted a tie on his bed frame and reached up to grab it.

 

“You two are out of your minds.”  Koutarou said as he put on his tie.  Tetsurou considered skipping for a moment before he rolled off of Daichi’s bed with a small groan and followed his friends out of their room.  “Hey hey hey Akaashi!” Koutarou yelled as they reached the common room, seemingly forgetting about their argument at the sight of the curly haired boy.  Keiji, for his part, looked like he was considering running away but he sighed and let Koutarou walk next to him.

 

“Good morning Bokuto.”  Keiji said as they stepped out into the hallway.

 

“Do you want me to carry your books Akaashi?”  Koutarou asked, using the couple centimeters of extra height he had on Keiji to hover over him.  Keiji gave him an odd look before shaking his head.

 

“That’s not necessary.”  Keiji said slowly, as if he couldn’t quite figure Koutarou out.  Tetsurou exchanged a knowing look with Tooru, both of them grinning with fond exasperation.  Koutarou had admitted to having a bit of a crush on Keiji, which wasn’t surprising at all. What was surprising was that Koutarou was very well aware of the fact that Keiji didn’t trust nor really like Koutarou all that much.  It was something Koutarou had decided he was going to change that year. Mostly it just seemed to make Keiji highly suspicious and confused.

 

“Are you going to watch the Quidditch match?”  Koutarou asked. The first match of the year was coming up, Ravenclaw vs Slytherin.

 

“Of course.”  Keiji tilted his head, as if getting a better look at Koutarou would help him figure out what the older boy was up to.

 

“Good!”  Koutarou shouted, drawing the surprised attention of a couple students in the busy corridor.  “I mean that’s good, I’ll see you around Akaashi, have a good class!” Koutarou waved as they headed in different directions.

 

“Smooth.”  Tetsurou joked, walking a little faster to catch up to Koutarou.

 

“Possibly the smoothest thing I’ve ever seen.”  Tooru grinned, earning a shove from Koutarou.

 

“I don’t want to hear anything from you, pretending Hajime was your boyfriend.”  Koutarou grumbled as they all laughed and walked to class together.

  
  
  
  


\--------------------

  
  
  
  


Tetsurou shoved a letter under his pillow when he heard the door creak open.  He looked over at Daichi, trying to be as casual as possible but knew he was falling short.  Especially given the raised eyebrows Daichi shot him before putting his books on top of his trunk.

 

“Koutarou’s looking for you.”  Daichi leaned against the tall post of his bedframe.  Unlike the others Daichi hadn’t grown much in height but he did seem to be filling out in a way the rest of the lanky teenagers had yet to do.  There was something solid about him.

 

Daichi approached Tetsurou’s bed slowly when he didn’t answer before he sat down on the edge then laid down.  Tetsurou raised an eyebrow but followed the others lead, laying down beside his friend. Tetsurou had invaded Daichi’s bed several times over, he told himself it was alright because he was constantly all over Koutarou’s bed too but deep down he knew it wasn’t the same.  Daichi had nightmares and more often than not Tetsurou had shifted into his Nundu form and crawled into bed with the other teen.

 

Tetsurou turned his head when he realized Daichi’s eyes were closed.  There were claw marks on his face, interrupting the smooth dark skin. He had a smattering of freckles across the high point of his cheeks and his nose, only really noticeable from a closer distance.  Daichi had a face that promised to be strong when he was older, that would age well with him as the years went by.

 

“My mum sent a letter, she expects me to come home for the holiday break.”  Tetsurou would much rather spend Christmas at Hogwarts with Daichi. Not just because of his crush either.  Daichi was like a soothing balm against Tetsurou’s harsh edges, he made everything a little bit brighter just by his presence alone.  Tetsurou didn’t feel so angry, so alone, and a little afraid when Daichi was there. Tetsurou was beginning to realize that no matter what he did Daichi would never simply abandon him because he became inconvenient.  Even when Daichi was angry or upset he never said or did anything to hurt Tetsurou. None of them did, not Koutarou nor Tooru.

 

“Do you want to go there?”  Daichi asked, opening his eyes and turning his head to look at Tetsurou.  Daichi’s eyes were a deep, dark brown. Tetsurou felt himself move closer to the other teen and tried not to question why he did it.

 

“I’m not sure.”  Tetsurou frowned a little.  He felt self-conscious speaking of his family.  It wasn’t even the fact that he had been taught all his life that family matters remain in the family, never to be spoken to anyone else.  Bury down feelings, that’s what Tetsurou had been taught. But the fact of the matter was that Tetsurou had a family and he wasn’t sure Daichi had even that much.  Was it fair to speak badly of his own family when Daichi might not have one? Did his own family abandon him after learning he was a werewolf? Or was it something worse, was there no actual family to speak of?

 

“What is that look for?”  Daichi asked, doing his best to tilt his head to the side even though they were laying on their backs and facing each other.

 

“What look?”  Tetsurou asked, though he was pretty sure he knew what Daichi was getting at.

 

“That one.”  Daichi rolled onto his side, bringing himself closer to Tetsurou before gently pressing a finger between Tetsurou’s brows.  Tetsurou let out a surprised noise that had Daichi laughing, which only caused Tetsurou to laugh. Daichi’s laugh was nothing like Tetsurou’s own, which was high and cackling.  People seemed wary when Tetsurou laughed, but when Daichi laughed people leaned closer, unconsciously smiling and pulled in by the deep resonance.

 

“I feel bad.”  Tetsurou admitted once their laughter had died down.  He couldn’t look Daichi in the eyes anymore so he lowered his vision, concentrating on Daichi’s hand where it laid between them.  “My family isn’t perfect and they care too much about status and appearance but I’ve always been fed, yeah? I had a roof over my head, nice things, actually the best things.  They’ve done some bad things but I have too right? How can I complain about my family when some people-” Tetsurou stopped himself and glanced worriedly up at Daichi, who smiled gently back at him.

 

“When some people don’t have families?”  Daichi asked. “I think you shouldn’t compare your family to others.  You know what’s right and you know how parents should act.” The problem was Tetsurou couldn’t help but compare his family to others.  The warmth, love and utter acceptance that practically radiates from the Bokuto and Oikawa’s. They have so much love inside of them that they even extend that to their son's friends, accepting them right into their home and families without complaint.  Tetsurou was positive his own parents would never accept any of his friends. They would not accept Daichi, who comes from an unknown family and wears hand me down clothes and is kind to everyone he meets. They would not accept Tooru, who has a muggle parent and works his arse off to be the best at everything he does.  They wouldn’t even accept Koutarou, who does come from a pure-blood family but who are thought of lesser because of their acceptance and love of the muggle world.

 

“At some point I loved my parents and I’m just not sure when that stopped.”  Tetsurou’s hand absentmindedly touched his side, a movement that did not escape Daichi’s attention.  “My father has never hit me, he just- he pushed me and I fell against a table in the hall.” It had hurt, his whole side had bruised.  Tetsurou couldn’t even remember what they had been arguing about but it was during it that Tetsurou had learned he had physically outgrown his father and tried to use that extra height to his advantage.  Despite the few added centimeters and years of Quidditch, Tetsurou was still stuck in a growing teenage body and had been no match for his father's strength.

 

For a moment, a brief moment, his father had looked horrified at what he had done as Tetsurou sat crumpled on the floor.  The look was buried underneath his usual stoic mask as he commanded his wife leave with him and for Tetsurou to clean up the vase that had fallen off the table and shattered on the floor.

 

“Daichi-” Tetsurou swallowed down his questions about Daichi’s own family.  It was obvious the teen wasn’t ready to talk about it yet and perhaps he never would be.  That had to be okay with Tetsurou.

 

“You know no matter what happens we’ll always be here, yeah?”  Daichi asked, pressing lightly on Tetsurou’s nose as if to emphasis the point.  Tetsurou felt like there was too much air in his chest and something was lodged in his throat because Daichi had seen what he wanted.

 

Tetsurou wanted to go home for the holiday, he wanted to give him and his parents one last shot.  He wanted to try and mend things with his little brother, who he had spent so much time ignoring. It was good to know there was a safety net there, that his friends would be there even if his own family no longer wanted him.

  
  
  
  


\-------------------

  
  
  
  


Tetsurou stared down the dinner table at his father, who was going on as if nothing had changed.  As if there hadn’t been a huge rift in their family, as if the elder Kuroo hadn’t physically hurt his son and walked away.  He was making plans for Tetsurou, telling him who to befriend and who to stay away from. He didn’t mention his friends by name but everyone at the table knew who he was referring to when he talked about ‘unsightly characters’.

 

Tetsurou looked over at his mother.  She refused to meet his eyes, staring hard down at her plate and not making a noise.  She never spoke against her husband, never once had stood up for Tetsurou. He had always been alone in this giant house but he hadn’t realized how lonely he was until he was surrounded by warmth and comfort.

 

Thinking of his friends helped Tetsurou breath again.  He continued eating mechanically, letting his mind wander.  He thought of the clear love in the Bokuto and Oikawa’s house, how accepting and inviting they had been to him though they had to know about his family.  Especially the Bokuto’s, who were ostracized by people like Tetsurou’s father. They could have told Koutarou to stop hanging around Tetsurou. Tetsurou’s father was wrong when he said that the ‘unsightly characters’ were a bad influence on him, but he knew he hadn’t exactly been a guiding example to his friends.  He was manipulative and moody, he had pushed and pulled without any rhyme or reason but they had stayed with him. Their parents would have all the reason in the world to tell them to stop being around Tetsurou but they hadn’t.

 

Tetsurou glanced over at his little brother and knew there would be no repairing the damage between them.  Tetsurou wasn’t even sure how to take care of himself, he had no idea how to lend that sort of guidance to his little brother who was already following the orders of their father to perfection.  He had gotten in Slytherin and he befriended everyone of their parents friends children. Tetsurou had even heard his own brother refer to another girl in their year as a mudblood.

 

As an old brother Tetsurou thought he should do more but what else was there to do?  How could he help someone who didn’t want to be helped? His brother refused to even speak to him and they acted like strangers in the halls of Hogwarts.  Tetsurou didn’t doubt his brother reported back to their father, that he would do so and tell their father that Tetsurou didn’t listen to a word of his ‘advice’.

 

The same familiar squeezing sensation overtook Tetsurou.  Like he couldn’t breath, as if there wasn’t enough oxygen in the room.  He had felt like that for years whenever he was in this house.

 

Tetsurou thought of of the look on Koutarou’s face as he made captain.  He thought of Tooru melting and making an absolute ass of himself whenever Hajime was around.  Tetsurou thought of Daichi. Daichi’s smile and his warm hands, the way he was slowly becoming more comfortable with physical affection.  Tetsurou thoroughly enjoy that new aspect of Daichi and he only felt a little guilty because of his crush.

 

Tetsurou thought the crush would be the end of him.  He was an utter mess and knew Daichi deserved better than him.  He thought it would be difficult to be around Daichi, that his heart would do acrobatics forever whenever the other teen was near and that he’d have to steer clear for a while.  But being around Daichi post-crush was as easy as ever. He was this big, sold, immovable object in all of their lives and Tetsurou couldn’t believe he ever thought he could stay away.

 

For the rest of the break, whenever Tetsurou felt like the walls were closing in on him and his lungs didn’t seem to want to work right he thought of Hogwarts.  He thought of his friends and things became easier once more.

 

From the look on his mother's face, Tetsurou could guess she knew this would be the last time they would purposefully see each other.  There was a sharp sting of betrayal, that she would so easily abandon her own son but Tetsurou pushed that aside. He really didn’t know much about his mother except this was the life she was raised into.  She was made to be a perfect wife and she had no other options. All her friends were her husbands friends. Her family cared about lineage and blood as much as everyone else.

 

Tetsurou turned away from his family and went back to Hogwarts.

  
  
  
  


\----------------

  
  
  
  


Tetsurou sought out Daichi when he arrived back at the castle.  Thankfully the other teen was in their shared room, getting changed for the welcome back feast for all the returning students before school resumed regularly the next day.

 

The smile Daichi gave Tetsurou helped ease the rest of the tension out of his body.  Tetsurou didn’t normally initiate physical contact but he had been getting before over the past year.  The genuinely happy look Daichi gave him helped Tetsurou get over his hesitation, the distance that existed between him and his family.  Daichi looked at him like he was glad Tetsurou was back, that he was happy just to have Tetsurou near no matter the numerous mistakes he’s made in their couple years of friendship.

 

Tetsurou stepped closer to Daichi and bent down to wrap his arms around the shorter teen.  Daichi stiffened for half a second before his arms came up around Tetsurou, barely applying any pressure until Tetsurou shifted closer and pressed his face against the warm skin of Daichi’s neck.  Daichi then hugged Tetsurou tighter, fingers curling against the fabric of Tetsurou’s jumper and holding him close.

 

“I’m glad you’re back.”  Daichi admitted softly and it was the exact right thing Tetsurou needed to hear.  He didn’t want to talk about his time at home, it was clear it hadn’t gone well but he needed to know that he was wanted  _ somewhere _ .  Perhaps Daichi knew that feeling all too well but when Tetsurou went to repeat the words something clogged up his throat.  He pressed his face closer to Daichi’s neck and hoped the other teen knew the truth.

  
  
  
  


\--------------

  
  
  
  


The rest of the year was a whirlwind of trying to finish off work for the added course load for their N.E.W.T. level classes.  Tetsurou had always been good at school but even he found himself throwing books across the room every once and awhile. There was so much to learn and his entire future rode on getting good grades.

 

Tetsurou wasn’t the only one stressing about it.  He would be surprised if there wasn’t a fifth year at Hogwarts that wasn’t tearing out their hair or left sobbing over botched charms homework.  Koutarou had already snapped three quills right in half and Tooru was sure to make himself go bald with the way he was pulling at his hair.

 

The real surprise came in the form of Daichi losing it in the middle of the library.  Everyone sat in stunned silence because Daichi simply didn’t lose his temper. He had one, they were all quite aware how scary he could get sometimes, but he always had a tight rein on it.  Tetsurou and the others knew it was because Daichi worried that if he lost control himself, he would lose control of the werewolf. Tetsurou couldn’t imagine that type of pressure. They were 16 year old boys after all, every single one of them lost control every once and a while.

 

It was Tooru’s quick thinking that ushered Daichi out of the stunned library.  Tetsurou and Koutarou followed close behind until they were in the safety of the Room of Requirements.  They had figured out what that room was that had all the books on animagi and werewolves but that hardly seemed important at the moment.

 

“I can’t do it.”  Daichi motioned to the door.  “I can’t! I’m always playing catch up and it’s- the full moon is  _ so close _ and I can already feel it.  I just want to sleep and people already think I get special treatment.”  Tetsurou felt himself stiffen at that. Had someone actually said something to Daichi?

 

“What other option do you have?”  Tooru asked, earning a shove from Koutarou and a glare from both Daichi and Tetsurou.  “I’m sorry but it’s true. You need to yell or break something? Now's your chance but you’re wasting what little time we have left because you know damned well we’re going to be out there with you when you change.”

 

“But you don’t have to be!”  Daichi yelled.

 

“I get it, it’s terrible what you have to go through, it really is and no one will really ever understand why because it could ruin your life.”  Tooru continued on without mercy. Tetsurou gave him a swift kick in the ass. “You know I’m right!” Tooru whined, rubbing his bum.

 

“It doesn’t mean you should say it.”  Koutarou argued.

 

“We’ll help fill you in on what you’ve missed.”  Tetsurou promised. “It’s overwhelming now but face it Daichi, you’re brilliant and you’re going to do just fine.  Who we really need to worry about is Koutarou who has been too busy staring at Akaashi to get any real work done and folds under pressure.”  Koutarou yelled indignantly, hopping on Tetsurou’s back and trying to get him in a choke hold.

 

It broke the tension and after a couple more minutes of roughhousing they all headed back to the library.  Daichi apologized with a sheepish smile as they took a seat at their table. Tetsurou grabbed the book Daichi had shoved off the table before putting it back in front of the other teen.

 

Tetsurou leaned over to help Daichi with his Herbology work, his leg pressing against Daichi’s but when the other teen didn’t move his leg away, Tetsurou left his own one there.

  
  
  
  


\------------------

  
  
  
  


In the end they all did well in their classes and the last quidditch match of the year let them all let off the last of their energy.  They spent their last night chasing around a terrifying werewolf in the Forbidden Forest. Tetsurou wasn’t happy to leave Daichi after that, he didn’t always do the best right after the full moon but he was made to get on the train with everyone else.

 

Tetsurou sat with Koutarou on one bench with Tooru and Hajime situated on the one across from them.  Keiji appeared in the door and Koutarou sat up straighter, brimming with happiness as he greeted the other Hogwarts student.  Keiji gave a stilted reply back before walking onto the next compartment. Koutarou deflated against Tetsurou.

 

“That was bad.”  Hajime said in the silence, making them all snicker.

 

“You just watch, I’ll get him to say a full sentence to me and then nothing will stop me after that!”  Koutarou slammed his fist against the seat, making them all laugh again.

 

“I guess you do have better luck with Keiji than Tetsurou does with Daichi.”  Hajime said with a grin, proving that he really did belong with Tooru after all the devious little shit.  Everyone laughed at Tetsurou who glowered.

 

“If Akaashi and Kou get together then I’ll confess.”  Tetsurou grumbled. Like hell that would ever happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe it's been so long since I've written this story. I even accidentally wrote this chapter as their Fifth year even though I had already done their Fifth year. I changed it and hopefully caught everything!


	7. Seventh Year Part 1

Tetsurou was laid out in a bed in the nurses quarters.  He was slightly embarrassed to be taken out so early in the quidditch season, and not even in a real game either.  The practice match against Hufflepuff was supposed to be a nice warm up for both teams after the summer break. One second Tetsurou had been in the air and the next he had been on the ground.

 

Asahi flinched whenever Tetsurou talked too loud but on the quidditch field?  A complete monster. Tetsurou knew that from past interactions but had stupidly written it off.  He would never make that mistake again.

 

Daichi walked around the curtain and Tetsurou scented something quite lovely in the air.  Tetsurou grinned through the pain as he sat himself up as Daichi held out a mince pie, making Tetsurou positive beam as he took the small baked good.

 

“Asahi feels awful.”  Daichi said by way of explanation of how he got the pie.  Hufflepuff’s dorms were right by the kitchen, the lucky buggers.  “He wouldn’t stop crying as he made me promise to give that to you.”  Daichi shook his head at the memory.

 

“He’s terrified of you.”  Tetsurou stated after the first bite.  It tasted heavenly.

 

“Me?  He’s pretty sure you’re going to hex him into next year when you get out of here.”  Daichi sat back in the chair next to Tetsurou’s bed. The shiny Head Boy pin caught the light and Tetsurou grinned at the memory of a red faced Daichi coming back from the headmaster's with it on his robes.  No one but Daichi had been surprised he had been named Head Boy. Shimizu from Ravenclaw had been named Head Girl. “I’m not the one with the terrible reputation.” Tetsurou winced at that.

 

“I haven’t done anything in years.”  Tetsurou whined around another bite of pie, earning a reproachful look from the other teen.

 

“That’s just supposed to erase everything you’ve done before?”  Daichi asked skeptically.

 

“You get named a pin from the headmaster and it all goes straight to your head.”  Tetsurou muttered to his pie, glancing at Daichi’s red face as he self consciously touched the pin before drawing his foot back to kick Tetsurou.  It had been a soft kick but Tetsurou still whined all the same. “I’m injured.”

 

“Poor kid, need me to rub it to make it better?”  Tetsurou sputtered as Daichi laughed, a low raspy sound that Tetsurou had been hearing more often throughout the years.  When he first met Daichi he hardly laughed at all but he had really changed throughout his years at Hogwarts. He was pretty well known throughout all the houses, even well liked despite how Tetsurou joked about Asahi being afraid of Daichi.

 

“How scandalous, I am a good, true-hearted boy Daichi.”  Tetsurou’s hand fluttered over his heart, covering up how quickly it was beating at just the mere sight of Daichi’s mischievous grin.  “I don’t know where you’re learning this behavior but I want their names so I can talk to them.” Daichi laughed again, earning the attention of the nurse who told him to finish up that they both needed sleep as growing young boys.

 

Daichi stood before bending over to squeeze Tetsurou’s nose gently, holding on as he looked Tetsurou in the eyes.  From this distance Tetsurou could see flecks of different shades of brown that made up Daichi’s warm eyes. He could see the dozens of freckles spread across his nose and cheek, the faint dimple in his left cheek.

 

“Please take care of yourself, I don’t know what-” Daichi swallowed, Tetsurou watched his throat move before his eyes went back to Daichi’s as the other teen used the hold on Tetsurou’s nose to shake his head lightly.  “Don’t be an idiot.” Daichi let go and walked away. Tetsurou watched Daichi spread his fingers by his side before curling them against his robe.

 

Tetsurou stared at the space Daichi had just occupied before slowly eating the rest of his pie.  Even as he laid down to sleep his heart wouldn’t slow down.

  
  
  
  


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Tetsurou walked into the library with a forlorn looking Koutarou.  He had made the other teen follow him out of the common room to do some real studying.  Sometimes the Gryffindor common room could be a quiet and nice place to study but mostly it was loud and full of people.  Not very conducive to studying no matter how much Koutarou tried to convince Tetsurou otherwise.

 

At one table sat Tooru.  Or sprawled Tooru was a better description considering he was slumped over his work and fast asleep.  Hajime sat next to him, carefully taking off Tooru’s glasses to keep them safe and make it more comfortable for Tooru to sleep.  The kid was a monster in schoolwork and quidditch but he often overdid it. The troublesome duo in the form of Hanamaki Takahiro and Matsukawa Issei sat at the table too, nudging each other and smirking and making kissy faces at the soft Hajime before he gave them a sharp glare and they shut right up.

 

Shouyou waved enthusiastically from another table, nearly jumping to stand up in his seat as Koutarou perked up instantly at the sight of his favorite son.  At the same table was a couple of the people Shouyou had instantly befriend with his sunshine attitude and almost surprisingly, Tsukishima Kei. Tetsurou had taken the taciturn kid under his wing, whether Kei wanted him to or not.  Over the years he had warmed towards Shouyou and even helped him with his work.

 

Koutarou pulled Tetsurou over to a table occupied by just two people.

 

“Hey hey hey Akaashi, is it okay if we sit here?”  Koutarou asked in a tone that could only be described as a whisper-yell.  Daichi looked up from his spot next to Keiji, fond annoyance written on his face as he looked at Koutarou and Tetsurou.  As if Tetsurou had any idea how to turn Koutarou’s volume down.

 

“The other seats are unoccupied.”  Keiji stated before turning back to what looked like Astronomy work.  His brow was furrowed and his face looked over all pinched in expression.  Tetsurou took a seat and didn’t think Keiji’s mood was because of Koutarou and Tetsurou.  

 

Koutarou and Keiji weren’t anything even resembling friends but Keiji had mostly dropped his over the top formality with Koutarou.  Tetsurou was almost sure it had to do with Kenma in some way, consider Keiji and Kenma had grown close over the years, but Kenma always denied saying anything to the other teen.

 

Tetsurou took out his own Potions work.  He had gotten into the class thanks to his good O.W.L.S but he was still working out all the mechanics to the potion that would help Daichi.  He had decided to continue with Herbology too so he could grow the more rarer ingredients if need be. Tooru’s parents had a rather extensive garden at their house and had taught Tetsurou all they knew about it when he had shown an interest.  Tooru had complained about spending his summer break gardening of all things but he still sat by Tetsurou and helped out. They kept Koutarou away from it because it turned out he had a black thumb and killed anything he touched.

 

Tetsurou purposefully knocked his foot against Daichi’s, continued to look down and write notes calmly even as he felt Daichi’s eyes on him.  Daichi shoved Tetsurou’s foot back into his own space and Tetsurou waited until the other teen was fully immersed in his work before putting both legs into Daichi’s space.

 

“Tetsurou.”  Daichi nearly growled.

 

“You need less space than me because you are so little.”  Tetsurou grinned and he knew he deserved the swift kick he got for that one.  Daichi was little in no way, shape, or form even if he was shorter than Tetsurou by a few good centimeters.  He was broader than most of their other classmates and he had put on much needed weight in the past couple years.

 

“Could you take your flirting elsewhere, some of us are actually trying to study?”  Keiji snapped causing Daichi to pull back his feet and stare down at his work in embarrassment.

 

It was all fine and good when Tetsurou embarrassed Daichi but he felt what Tooru called his ‘Nundu Protective Instincts’ kick in as he put his elbow on the table and rested his chin against the palm of his hand.

 

“Having trouble with your Astronomy work?”  Tetsurou asked innocently. “Most think it’s a really easy class but I guess I can see how it would be hard for some people.”  Keiji flushed an angry shade of red before he slammed his books closed and walked off.

 

Tetsurou knew he was in trouble the second the words left his mouth.  He didn’t even have Tooru there to be on his side.

 

“Tetsurou.”  Koutarou didn’t look angry he just looked disappointed, even his ridiculous hair seemed to droop as he stared at Tetsurou.

 

“Okay, fine.  Stop with the ridiculous eyes already.”  Tetsurou sighed as he pushed himself to a standing position.

 

“Where are you going?”  Daichi asked dubiously.

 

“I’m going to go apologize because I let Kou down and I can’t have that on my conscious.”  Tetsurou said in a joking manner though he was mostly serious. Koutarou cheered, causing several other students to glare at him.

 

“Do you need supervision?”  Daichi asked, tone still clipped and Tetsurou wanted to toss his books around in a pure childish display of temper.  He had Daichi had been on such good terms and he just had to go open his big mouth.

 

“I’ll make The Call if I need help.”  Tetsurou said as he backed away from the table.

 

“Please don’t do The Call.”  Daichi said, voice pained.

 

“It’s for when one of us is in distress.”  Tetsurou explained, holding his arms wide as if he had no other choice.  “You remember how it sounds right?”

 

“Please no.”  Daichi groaned, trying to hide behind his books as Koutarou cracked up.

 

Tetsurou tossed his head back and made a sound that could accurately be described as a dying seagull that was in the vicinity of an angry cat.  Tooru jolted awake, knocking down papers and books.

 

“Who’s in trouble?”  Tooru asked, fingers reaching for his glasses.

 

“Your friend when I get ahold of him.”  Hajime glowered at Tetsurou, who moved quicker out of the library to go in search of Keiji.

 

Tetsurou headed in the direction of the Gryffindor common room, thinking the younger teen would most likely head there.  Tetsurou did feel guilty about what he said. He had spotted Keiji’s weakness and attacked it just because of what? Keiji did have the right to tell them to stop acting like children when he was clearly trying to get work done.  Tetsurou knew he was being overprotective, it wasn’t as if Daichi had been wounded in any way by Keiji’s words, just embarrassed for being called out.

 

Tetsurou knew he was overprotective of his friends, especially Daichi first thing after the full moon.  Tetsurou knew there was new scars on Daichi’s thigh because they had been too busy driving Kaito away  _ again _ to get to Daichi on time.  They had gotten complacent since Kaito hadn’t been seen lurking outside the shack in a couple months and he had nearly gotten up the steps before they had interfered.

 

It all made Tetsurou feel terrible.  He wished he could be there when the transformation starts so there would be no worries about Daichi attacking himself but Daichi had made them promise they would never come before or during his transformation.  From what little there was written about it, Tetsurou had guessed that the transformation wasn’t exactly an easy or magical sight.

 

Tetsurou heard Keiji’s familiar voice around the corner and wasn’t all too surprised when he walked over to see Kaito with him.  Kaito was still the same little greasy weasel he had been when Tetsurou had first met him, though now he was quite a bit taller and seemed to enjoy using that to his advantage.  He had Keiji pressed against the wall.

 

“Why are you protecting him?  You know what he is, just tell me-” Kaito was saying and Tetsurou stiffened at that before letting out a long and loud sigh, purposefully drawing attention to himself.  Keiji didn’t need saving but Tetsurou was positive Kaito was digging for answers on Daichi. Tetsurou was also pretty sure Keiji knew exactly what Daichi was.

 

“This is a new low, even for you.”  Tetsurou deadpanned, leaning his shoulder against the wall a meter or so away from them.

 

“This doesn’t involve you!”  Kaito’s face turned blotchy red and Tetsurou couldn’t help but think that sometimes people's insides really did match their outsides.  Kaito was ugly through and through. Most of the time it wasn’t so easy to tell. Tetsurou’s own father was called beautiful by many but his soul was nothing close to beautiful.

 

“You’re right, I just came to apologize to Keiji.”  Tetsurou purposefully used Keiji’s given name, keeping it informal.  Tetsurou turned to Keiji as if Kaito no longer existed. “If you’re having trouble with Astronomy you should really ask Kou for help, it was one of his best subjects.”  Keiji looked like he was trying to figure Tetsurou out before he straightened and moved away from Kaito.

 

“Thank you, I’ll think about it.”  Keiji said, holding his books and papers against his chest as if it were a shield.  Kaito turned on Keiji, looking appalled.

 

“You can’t really be thinking about asking for help from that idiot!”  Kaito shouted.

 

“Watch it.”  Tetsurou warned quietly but Kaito continued on anyways.

 

“You know what they’ve done to me and you’re just willing to forget all that because everyone likes them?  I thought you were my friend.” Kaito reached out for Keiji but he pulled away, though there was hesitation on his face.

 

“I was your friend Kaito but you’re not exactly innocent either.”  Keiji stated.

 

“I was defending myself against them, you know that.”  Kaito spat out.

 

“I’m not talking about what you’ve done to them,” Keiji stuck his chin out stubbornly.  “I heard what you called Shouyou, is that what you really think of all of us? That we’re- that we don’t deserve to be here because of who are parents are?”  Tetsurou took in a deep breath at that new information. He knew the nasty term ‘mudblood’ got thrown around sometimes but he didn’t know Shouyou had been on the receiving end of it.  No one deserved to be called that but Shouyou had never hurt anyone, the complete opposite really. He befriended everyone he came into contact with.

 

“You’re different.”  Kaito tried and even Tetsurou knew that was the exact wrong thing to say.

 

“No I am not, my parents are muggles and you made me so afraid to let anyone know that for years!”  Keiji stepped away from Kaito, who had pushed into the other teens space once again. “You’re the one obsessed with blood status, you’re the one who wants to impress the same people who mocked and made fun of you.”

 

“They are my friends.”  Kaito defended.

 

“I was your friend!”  Keiji shouted. It was the first time Tetsurou had ever heard the other teen raise his voice. 

 

“You abandoned me!”  Kaito shouted back, fingers curling into fists.

 

“I tried so hard for years to be your friend but you’ve changed.”  Keiji continued on even as Kaito opened his mouth to defend himself.  “This obsession with hurting Daichi, who hasn’t done anything to you or to anyone for that matter has gone too far!  They aren’t the ones who got you in trouble with the headmaster for sneaking out, I was, I told him because you’re going to get yourself hurt one of these days and I was scared for you.  I cared about you but you just think of people like me as  _ filthy mudbloods _ .  Shouyou has done nothing to deserve your hatred and yet you simply dislike him because your friends do!”

 

“Please Keiji, don’t say that, I love you.”  Kaito reached for Keiji once more but Keiji pulled away, knocking into Tetsurou in his haste to get away.

 

“That’s not love.”  Keiji straightened out and stared Kaito in the eye.  “I’m sorry but I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep defending you.”  Keiji walked away and Tetsurou stepped in front of Kaito before he could follow and manipulate Keiji further.

 

“Get out of my way.”  Kaito growled out but Tetsurou only stepped closer, getting into Kaito’s space this time and making the other teen look up for once.

 

“You messed up, admit it and move on.  You had years to prove yourself to him and you couldn’t, you and I both know he’s way too good for you and frankly I have no idea why he’s put up with you for so long but it ends here.”  Tetsurou stated, watching as Kaito’s face grew redder by the moment. It was scary, looking into the face of what Tetsurou could have so easily turned into himself. He knew their situations were very similar and he knew he still had a lot to do to be the sort of person his friends deserved but he was working on it.  Kaito wasn’t, he was taking the easy way out and got mad when others called him out for it.

 

“I know what your little boyfriend is and I’m going to prove it-” Tetsurou cut Kaito off with a sharp glare.

 

“Look at my face Kaito because I want to make this perfectly clear, if you harm Daichi in any way I will end you.”  Tetsurou said clearly. “Look at me, really look. Do you think I’m kidding?” Kaito turned pale as he backed away quickly from Tetsurou before hurrying away.

 

Tetsurou didn’t think it would be the last he would see of Kaito but he wasn’t worried about it at the moment.  He walked down the hall towards the Gryffindor dorms.

 

Koutarou was standing with his arms around Keiji right outside the portrait that lead to the Gryffindor common room.  Keiji’s shoulders were shaking lightly as he pressed his face into Koutarou’s shoulder.

 

“I thought you were going to apologize.”  Daichi said accusingly.

 

“It wasn’t him.”  Keiji cleared his throat before pulling away from Koutarou.  He didn’t look at any of them as he used the sleeve of his robe to wipe all evidence of tears off his face.  “Tetsurou helped me. Thank you.” Keiji said quietly before slipping into the common room.

 

“What happened?”  Koutarou asked worriedly.  “We came looking for you because it was taking a while and we got worried and Akaashi was outside the door crying.”

 

“Kaito and him got into it, apparently he called someone a mudblood.”  Both Koutarou and Daichi flinched at the word. Tetsurou wished he wasn’t used to hearing it.  He decided against telling them that it was Shouyou who had been on the receiving end of that word.

 

“Git.”  Koutarou said with real feeling as they all entered the common room together.  Tetsurou couldn’t help but nod in agreement. They all settled down near the fireplace together, Daichi taking the seat next to Tetsurou.  He sat close enough that their arms brushed whenever one of them moved and Tetsurou was so glad he had fought against his upbringing and the road that would have been so easy for him to walk down.

 

“Hey Koutarou, you should offer to help Akaashi with his astronomy work.”  Tetsurou said off handed as he purposely leaned against Daichi just a little.

  
  
  
  
  


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Tetsurou wakes to movement on his bed.  The pressure of another body presses into the mattress, making him automatically move towards the person interrupting his sleep and invading his personal space.

 

The person collapses next to Tetsurou with a soft apology, almost muffled completely by the comforter he buries his head in.  Tetsurou would know Daichi even in the dark and he carefully turns onto his side and drops one of the pillows he was holding against the side of his face.

 

Tetsurou’s brain is slow to wake but he knows this isn’t any type of R-rated situation happening right now.  No odd fantasy is playing out and he guesses that something must be truly wrong for Daichi to have sought comfort.  Tetsurou is still getting used to physical comfort himself so he’s awkward at best when trying to give it but for Daichi he’ll get over his hang ups and his lonely past.

Daichi pushes close when Tetsurou holds the comofter up for him.  There’s no words exchanged between the two and Tetsurou is only slightly taken off guard when Daichi presses his body right up against Tetsurou’s.  Tetsurou swallows down the sudden lump in his throat as he pulls the comforter around the both of them, adjusting until Daichi’s face is pressed right up against Tetsurou’s collarbone.  Tetsurou carefully curls his arm around the other teen, worry making him a little light headed as Daichi trembles against him.

 

The light flowing in from the half opened curtain on the window makes Tetsurou remember what is right around the corner.  The full moon. They hadn’t spoken about their possible futures but Tetsurou could see the added strain on Daichi’s features with every passing month.

 

They were in their final year of Hogwarts and they had all done so much growing but sometimes Tetsurou still felt like a kid.  Clumsily bumping around, trying to figure things out while being selfishly centered on themselves.

 

Tetsurou wasn’t good at comforting people.  He left that mostly to Koutarou and Daichi but Koutarou was fast asleep and Daichi had come to him.  Tetsurou could feel the slight tremble of Daichi’s fingers as he curled them into the loose fabric of Tetsurou’s sleep shirt.

 

Tetsurou didn’t know the right words to make the future any less scary for Daichi.  He didn’t know how to soothe anyone and the only time he knew the right thing to say was when he was provoking someone.  So Tetsurou did something he had always been good at. He talked.

 

Tetsurou made sure to keep his voice low as he told Daichi everything that had been happening with quidditch.  He started with how the Hufflepuff Ushijima Wakatoshi was a huge obstacle then moved onto how weird the friendship the serious giant had with the Slytherin Tendou Satori and how Tetsurou had seen Satori kiss a Ravenclaw boy by the name of Semi Eita and how they had been dating for four years now and doesn’t that seem like such a long time when you’re only 17 years old?  He moved onto how sometimes Noya would flirt with Asahi during practice matches and real games and not even Tetsurou was sure if the other teen was sincere or he just liked making Asahi blush. Tetsurou admitted he was envious of Asahi’s hair and would he look good with long hair? No, it would probably be a disaster.

 

Tetsurou continued on until he felt Daichi relax against him.  He continued speaking even as his throat went dry and his eyelids felt heavy.  He didn’t stop until Daichi was fully asleep and he could see the beginnings of the sunrise out the window.  Only then did he allow his stream of consciousness to fade away as he let himself fall back into a deep sleep.

  
  
  
  


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There was a big party in the common room for Tetsurou’s birthday.  He was surprised by how many people seemed genuinely happy as they handed over gifts and treats.  He had been making an effort to be a better person but he didn’t think that extended beyond his friends.

 

Even Kei had wished him a happy birthday in the halls earlier that day.  Tetsurou had faked a sob before throwing himself at the younger teen, who recoiled in horror as Tetsurou gushed about his cute little underclassman actually liking him and will miss him when he was gone.  Kei had fired back with some choice words that would have felled a softer man but Tetsurou saw through that act now.

 

Gryffindor’s typically used any excuse to throw a celebration and Tetsurou’s birthday was no different.  It was loud and rowdy and a couple things caught on fire so all in all? A pretty good night. With the exception that Daichi was on patrol for his Head Boy duties.

 

Up in the dorms Koutarou brought out his present with a flourish and a wide smile that couldn’t contain how happy he was.  Tetsurou looked at the broom shaped wrapping paper and tapped his chin thoughtfully, making guesses with Tooru of what it could be until Koutarou was reaching over to rip the wrappings off with impatience.

 

The broom was one of the newest models, one of the ones Koutarou and Tetsurou had gushed over when Tetsurou had gone with the Bokuto’s to Diagon Alley before school started up.  It was sleek and beautiful and yes, Tetsurou might have cried a little but it was nothing to make fun of, Tooru!

 

Tooru got Tetsurou a jersey from his favorite team along with a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Bean which they all passed around for an hour until they called it quits after Koutarou got dragon dung.

 

It wasn’t until the next day that Tetsurou saw Daichi again.  Back in the dorms right before quidditch practice. Tetsurou had forgotten his new broom and had run back to grab it when he came across Daichi with his work spread across his bed.

 

“Tetsurou, about your birthday.”  Daichi said as Tetsurou grabbed his new broom and turned back to Daichi.

 

“I told Noya if he held his wand that way and casted that spell it would blow up so I am not cleaning up that mess.”  Tetsurou stated firmly, though he knew if Daichi asked him to he would clean it up because while also warning Noya about the consequences, he had also egged the other boy on.

 

“No it’s not about that, it’s about your gift.”  Daichi glanced down at the broom in Tetsurou’s hand before looking away.

 

“You got me something?”  Tetsurou asked in surprise, eyebrows raising as he stepped closer to Daichi’s bed.

 

“I did.”  Daichi admitted slowly, still not meeting Tetsurou’s eyes.

 

“Where is it?  Did you throw it in the lake?”  Tetsurou teased. Daichi reached under his pillow before pulling out something wrapped in newspaper.  It was very clearly a book, or multiple books to be more precise and Tetsurou hurried close in excitement.

 

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to give it to you, I should have at least gotten you sweets or something not books.”  Daichi looked up at Tetsurou and honestly, the sad look didn’t suit his face at all.

 

“But I  _ love  _ books.”  Tetsurou answered truthfully.  But even if he didn’t, he would love any present Daichi gave him.  He knew Daichi had no money of his own and none of them expected gifts from Daichi but he also knew it bothered Daichi to receive items without being able to give back.  “If you don’t give them to me now I’ll be late for practice and I’ll have to run drills instead of actually practicing and what kind of birthday present is that?” Tetsurou smirked as he held out his hand.  Daichi hesitantly handed over the present and Tetsurou tore into it with excitement.

 

“Book about potions and herbology?”  Tetsurou glanced at the titles before flipping through them.  They both went into much more detail than any of his textbooks did, along with the history of each item.  Difficulty of brewing or growing, helpful hints were written into the blank spaces also.

 

“I know it’s stupid, I should have done better.”  Daichi cringed as he rubbed the back of his neck, a sure sign that he was uncomfortable.  “They are even used books. Professor Takeda gave them to me and I regifted them-” As adorable as a rambling Daichi was, Tetsurou did need him to stop speaking before he was really late for practice but he couldn’t leave Daichi in distress.

 

Tetsurou meant to lean down and do something gentle and romantic like press his forehead do Daichi’s and look him deep in the eye to tell him he loved the books, that he was so happy that Daichi had noticed Tetsurou’s deeper interest in both subjects.  That’s what Tetsurou meant to do but the reality was a little different.

 

Tetsurou ended up basically headbutting Daichi, which did have the side effect of stopping his rambling.  Both teens groaned as they pulled away from each other.

 

“Thank it, I love you- I mean it, I mean the books- I love yo-it.  Them. The books.” Tetsurou put the books up as if that would hide his utter failure at trying to be smooth.  Never again would he try! “Thank you!” Tetsurou rushed out of the room and only realized once Tooru asked why he was carrying books instead of his broom that he had forgotten it back in their room.

 

Tetsurou used his old broom because there was no way he was speaking to Daichi again until they were at least 40 and the embarrassment of a semi-confession had faded just a little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get it? It's like a the movies. I hope you enjoyed Tetsurou's awkward and uncomfortable flirting tactics. Headbutt the ones you love! Try it today! It'll only cost you a small piece of your soul as it shrivels and dies just to escape the ensuing awkwardness.


	8. Chapter 8

Tetsurou was laid out in a bed in the nurses quarters.  He was slightly embarrassed to be taken out so early in the quidditch season, and not even in a real game either.  The practice match against Hufflepuff was supposed to be a nice warm up for both teams after the summer break. One second Tetsurou had been in the air and the next he had been on the ground.

 

Asahi flinched whenever Tetsurou talked too loud but on the quidditch field?  A complete monster. Tetsurou knew that from past interactions but had stupidly written it off.  He would never make that mistake again.

 

Daichi walked around the curtain and Tetsurou scented something quite lovely in the air.  Tetsurou grinned through the pain as he sat himself up as Daichi held out a mince pie, making Tetsurou positive beam as he took the small baked good.

 

“Asahi feels awful.”  Daichi said by way of explanation of how he got the pie.  Hufflepuff’s dorms were right by the kitchen, the lucky buggers.  “He wouldn’t stop crying as he made me promise to give that to you.”  Daichi shook his head at the memory.

 

“He’s terrified of you.”  Tetsurou stated after the first bite.  It tasted heavenly.

 

“Me?  He’s pretty sure you’re going to hex him into next year when you get out of here.”  Daichi sat back in the chair next to Tetsurou’s bed. The shiny Head Boy pin caught the light and Tetsurou grinned at the memory of a red faced Daichi coming back from the headmaster's with it on his robes.  No one but Daichi had been surprised he had been named Head Boy. Shimizu from Ravenclaw had been named Head Girl. “I’m not the one with the terrible reputation.” Tetsurou winced at that.

 

“I haven’t done anything in years.”  Tetsurou whined around another bite of pie, earning a reproachful look from the other teen.

 

“That’s just supposed to erase everything you’ve done before?”  Daichi asked skeptically.

 

“You get a pin from the headmaster and it all goes straight to your head.”  Tetsurou muttered to his pie, glancing at Daichi’s red face as he self consciously touched the pin before drawing his foot back to kick Tetsurou.  It had been a soft kick but Tetsurou still whined all the same. “I’m injured.”

 

“Poor kid, need me to rub it to make it better?”  Tetsurou sputtered as Daichi laughed, a low raspy sound that Tetsurou had been hearing more often throughout the years.  When he first met Daichi he hardly laughed at all but he had really changed during his years at Hogwarts. He was pretty well known in all the houses, even well liked despite how Tetsurou joked about Asahi being afraid of Daichi.

 

“How scandalous, I am a good, true-hearted boy Daichi.”  Tetsurou’s hand fluttered over his heart, covering up how quickly it was beating at just the mere sight of Daichi’s mischievous grin.  “I don’t know where you’re learning this behavior but I want their names so I can talk to them.” Daichi laughed again, earning the attention of the nurse who told him to finish up that they both needed sleep as growing young boys.

 

Daichi stood before bending over to squeeze Tetsurou’s nose gently between his middle and pointer fingers, holding on as he looked Tetsurou in the eyes.  From this distance Tetsurou could see flecks of different shades of brown that made up Daichi’s warm eyes. He could see the dozen freckles spread across his nose and cheek, the faint dimple in his left cheek.

 

“Please take care of yourself, I don’t know what-” Daichi swallowed, Tetsurou watched his throat move before his eyes went back to Daichi’s as the other teen used the hold on Tetsurou’s nose to shake his head lightly.  “Don’t be an idiot.” Daichi let go and walked away. Tetsurou watched Daichi spread his fingers by his side before curling them against his robe.

 

Tetsurou stared at the space Daichi had just occupied before slowly eating the rest of his pie.  Even as he laid down to sleep his heart wouldn’t slow down.

  
  
  
  


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Tetsurou walked into the library with a forlorn looking Koutarou.  He had made the other teen follow him out of the common room to do some real studying.  Sometimes the Gryffindor common room could be a quiet and nice place to study but mostly it was loud and full of people.  Not very conducive to studying no matter how much Koutarou tried to convince Tetsurou otherwise.

 

At one table sat Tooru.  Or sprawled Tooru was a better description considering he was slumped over his work and fast asleep.  Hajime sat next to him, carefully taking off Tooru’s glasses to keep them safe and make it more comfortable for Tooru to sleep.  The kid was a monster in schoolwork and quidditch but he often overdid it. The troublesome duo in the form of Hanamaki Takahiro and Matsukawa Issei sat at the table too, nudging each other and smirking and making kissy faces at the soft Hajime before he gave them a sharp glare and they shut right up.

 

Shouyou waved enthusiastically from another table, nearly jumping to stand up in his seat as Koutarou perked up instantly at the sight of his favorite son.  At the same table was a couple of the people Shouyou had instantly befriend with his sunshine attitude and almost surprisingly, Tsukishima Kei. Tetsurou had taken the taciturn kid under his wing, whether Kei wanted him to or not.  Over the years he had warmed towards Shouyou and even helped him with his work.

 

Koutarou pulled Tetsurou over to a table occupied by just two people.

 

“Hey hey hey Akaashi, is it okay if we sit here?”  Koutarou asked in a tone that could only be described as a whisper-yell.  Daichi looked up from his spot next to Keiji, fond annoyance written on his face as he looked at Koutarou and Tetsurou.  As if Tetsurou had any idea how to turn Koutarou’s volume down.

 

“The other seats are unoccupied.”  Keiji stated before turning back to what looked like Astronomy work.  His brow was furrowed and his face wore pinched in expression. Tetsurou took a seat and didn’t think Keiji’s mood was because of Koutarou and Tetsurou.  

 

Koutarou and Keiji weren’t anything even resembling friends but Keiji had mostly dropped his over the top formality with Koutarou.  Tetsurou was almost sure it had to do with Kenma in some way, consider Keiji and Kenma had grown close over the years, but Kenma always denied saying anything to the other teen.

 

Tetsurou took out his own Potions work.  He had gotten into the class thanks to his good O.W.L.S but he was still working out all the mechanics to the potion that would help Daichi.  He had decided to continue with Herbology too so he could grow the more rarer ingredients if need be. Tooru’s parents had a rather extensive garden at their house and had taught Tetsurou all they knew about it when he had shown an interest.  Tooru had complained about spending his summer break gardening of all things but he still sat by Tetsurou and helped out. They kept Koutarou away from it because it turned out he had a black thumb and killed anything he touched.

 

Tetsurou purposefully knocked his foot against Daichi’s, continued to look down and write notes calmly even as he felt Daichi’s eyes on him.  Daichi shoved Tetsurou’s foot back into his own space and Tetsurou waited until the other teen was fully immersed in his work before putting both legs into Daichi’s space.

 

“Tetsurou.”  Daichi nearly growled.

 

“You need less space than me because you are so little.”  Tetsurou grinned and he knew he deserved the swift kick he got for that one.  Daichi was little in no way, shape, or form even if he was shorter than Tetsurou by a few good centimeters.  He was broader than most of their other classmates and he had put on much needed weight in the past couple years.

 

“Could you take your flirting elsewhere, some of us are actually trying to study?”  Keiji snapped causing Daichi to pull back his feet and stare down at his work in embarrassment.

 

It was all fine and good when Tetsurou embarrassed Daichi but he felt what Tooru called his ‘Nundu Protective Instincts’ kick in as he put his elbow on the table and rested his chin against the palm of his hand.

 

“Having trouble with your Astronomy work?”  Tetsurou asked innocently. “Most think it’s a really easy class but I guess I can see how it would be hard for some people.”  Keiji flushed an angry shade of red before he slammed his books closed and walked off.

 

Tetsurou knew he was in trouble the second the words left his mouth.  He didn’t even have Tooru there to be on his side.

 

“Tetsurou.”  Koutarou didn’t look angry he just looked disappointed, even his ridiculous hair seemed to droop as he stared at Tetsurou.

 

“Okay, fine.  Stop with the ridiculous eyes already.”  Tetsurou sighed as he pushed himself to a standing position.

 

“Where are you going?”  Daichi asked dubiously.

 

“I’m going to go apologize because I let Kou down and I can’t have that on my conscious.”  Tetsurou said in a joking manner though he was mostly serious. Koutarou cheered, causing several other students to glare at him.

 

“Do you need supervision?”  Daichi asked, tone still clipped and Tetsurou wanted to toss his books around in a pure childish display of temper.  He and Daichi had been on such good terms lately and he just had to go open his big mouth.

 

“I’ll make The Call if I need help.”  Tetsurou said as he backed away from the table.

 

“Please don’t do The Call.”  Daichi said, voice pained.

 

“It’s for when one of us is in distress.”  Tetsurou explained as if Daichi hadn’t been there the late night Koutarou and Tetsurou had kept them all up by making various noises.  He held his arms wide as if he had no other choice. “You remember how it sounds right?”

 

“Please no.”  Daichi groaned, trying to hide behind his books as Koutarou cracked up.

 

Tetsurou tossed his head back and made a sound that could accurately be described as a dying seagull that was in the vicinity of an angry cat.  Tooru jolted awake, knocking down papers and books.

 

“Who’s in trouble?”  Tooru asked, fingers reaching for his glasses.

 

“Your friend when I get ahold of him.”  Hajime glowered at Tetsurou, who moved quicker out of the library to go in search of Keiji.

 

Tetsurou headed in the direction of the Gryffindor common room, thinking the younger teen would most likely head there.  Tetsurou did feel guilty about what he said. He had spotted Keiji’s weakness and attacked it just because of what? Keiji did have the right to tell them to stop acting like children when he was clearly trying to get work done.  Tetsurou knew he was being overprotective, it wasn’t as if Daichi had been wounded in any way by Keiji’s words, just embarrassed for being called out.

 

Tetsurou knew he was overprotective of his friends, especially Daichi first thing after the full moon.  Tetsurou knew there was new scars on Daichi’s thigh because they had been too busy driving Kaito away  _ again _ to get to Daichi on time.  They had gotten complacent since Kaito hadn’t been seen lurking outside the shack in a couple months and he had nearly gotten up the steps before they had interfered.

 

It all made Tetsurou feel terrible.  He wished he could be there when the transformation starts so there would be no worries about Daichi attacking himself but Daichi had made them promise they would never come before or during his transformation.  From what little there was written about it, Tetsurou had guessed that the transformation wasn’t exactly an easy or magical sight.

 

Tetsurou heard Keiji’s familiar voice around the corner and wasn’t all too surprised when he walked over to see Kaito with him.  Kaito was still the same little greasy weasel he had been when Tetsurou had first met him, though now he was quite a bit taller and seemed to enjoy using that to his advantage.  He had Keiji pressed against the wall.

 

“Why are you protecting him?  You know what he is, just tell me-” Kaito was saying and Tetsurou stiffened at that before letting out a long and loud sigh, purposefully drawing attention to himself.  Keiji didn’t need saving but Tetsurou was positive Kaito was digging for answers on Daichi. Tetsurou was also pretty sure Keiji knew exactly what Daichi was.

 

“This is a new low, even for you.”  Tetsurou deadpanned, leaning his shoulder against the wall a meter or so away from them.

 

“This doesn’t involve you!”  Kaito’s face turned blotchy red and Tetsurou couldn’t help but think that sometimes people's insides really did match their outsides.  Kaito was ugly through and through. Most of the time it wasn’t so easy to tell. Tetsurou’s own father was called beautiful by many but his soul was nothing close to beautiful.

 

“You’re right, I just came to apologize to Keiji.”  Tetsurou purposefully used Keiji’s given name, keeping it informal.  Tetsurou turned to Keiji as if Kaito no longer existed. “If you’re having trouble with Astronomy you should really ask Kou for help, it was one of his best subjects.”  Keiji looked like he was trying to figure Tetsurou out before he straightened and moved away from Kaito.

 

“Thank you, I’ll think about it.”  Keiji said, holding his books and papers against his chest as if it were a shield.  Kaito turned on Keiji, looking appalled.

 

“You can’t really be thinking about asking for help from that idiot!”  Kaito shouted.

 

“Watch it.”  Tetsurou warned quietly but Kaito continued on anyways.

 

“You know what they’ve done to me and you’re just willing to forget all that because everyone likes them?  I thought you were my friend.” Kaito reached out for Keiji but he pulled away, though there was hesitation on his face.

 

“I was your friend Kaito but you’re not exactly innocent either.”  Keiji stated.

 

“I was defending myself against them, you know that.”  Kaito spat out.

 

“I’m not talking about what you’ve done to them,” Keiji stuck his chin out stubbornly.  “I heard what you called Shouyou, is that what you really think of all of us? That we’re- that we don’t deserve to be here because of who are parents are?”  Tetsurou took in a deep breath at that new information. He knew the nasty term ‘mudblood’ got thrown around sometimes but he didn’t know Shouyou had been on the receiving end of it.  No one deserved to be called that but Shouyou had never hurt anyone, the complete opposite really. He befriended everyone he came into contact with.

 

“You’re different.”  Kaito tried and even Tetsurou knew that was the exact wrong thing to say.

 

“No I am not, my parents are muggles and you made me so afraid to let anyone know that for years!”  Keiji stepped away from Kaito, who had pushed into the other teens space once again. “You’re the one obsessed with blood status, you’re the one who wants to impress the same people who mocked and made fun of you.”

 

“They are my friends.”  Kaito defended.

 

“I was your friend!”  Keiji shouted. It was the first time Tetsurou had ever heard the other teen raise his voice. 

 

“You abandoned me!”  Kaito shouted back, fingers curling into fists.

 

“I tried so hard for years to be your friend but you’ve changed.”  Keiji continued on even as Kaito opened his mouth to defend himself.  “This obsession with hurting Daichi, who hasn’t done anything to you or to anyone for that matter has gone too far!  They aren’t the ones who got you in trouble with the headmaster for sneaking out, I was, I told him because you’re going to get yourself hurt one of these days and I was scared for you.  I cared about you but you just think of people like me as  _ filthy mudbloods _ .  Shouyou has done nothing to deserve your hatred and yet you simply dislike him because your friends do!”

 

“Please Keiji, don’t say that, I love you.”  Kaito reached for Keiji once more but Keiji pulled away, knocking into Tetsurou in his haste to get away.

 

“That’s not love.”  Keiji straightened out and stared Kaito in the eye.  “I’m sorry but I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep defending you.”  Keiji walked away and Tetsurou stepped in front of Kaito before he could follow and manipulate Keiji further.

 

“Get out of my way.”  Kaito growled out but Tetsurou only stepped closer, getting into Kaito’s space this time and making the other teen look up for once.

 

“You messed up, admit it and move on.  You had years to prove yourself to him and you couldn’t, you and I both know he’s way too good for you and frankly I have no idea why he’s put up with you for so long but it ends here.”  Tetsurou stated, watching as Kaito’s face grew redder by the moment. It was scary, looking into the face of what Tetsurou could have so easily turned into himself. He knew their situations were very similar and he knew he still had a lot to do to be the sort of person his friends deserved but he was working on it.  Kaito wasn’t, he was taking the easy way out and got mad when others called him out for it.

 

“I know what your little boyfriend is and I’m going to prove it-” Tetsurou cut Kaito off with a sharp glare.

 

“Look at my face Kaito because I want to make this perfectly clear, if you harm Daichi in any way I will end you.”  Tetsurou said clearly. “Look at me, really look. Do you think I’m kidding?” Kaito turned pale as he backed away quickly from Tetsurou before hurrying away.

 

Tetsurou didn’t think it would be the last he would see of Kaito but he wasn’t worried about it at the moment.  He walked down the hall towards the Gryffindor dorms.

 

Koutarou was standing with his arms around Keiji right outside the portrait that lead to the Gryffindor common room.  Keiji’s shoulders were shaking lightly as he pressed his face into Koutarou’s shoulder.

 

“I thought you were going to apologize.”  Daichi said accusingly.

 

“It wasn’t him.”  Keiji cleared his throat before pulling away from Koutarou.  He didn’t look at any of them as he used the sleeve of his robe to wipe all evidence of tears off his face.  “Tetsurou helped me. Thank you.” Keiji said quietly before slipping into the common room.

 

“What happened?”  Koutarou asked worriedly.  “We came looking for you because it was taking a while and we got worried and Akaashi was outside the door crying.”

 

“Kaito and him got into it, apparently he called someone a mudblood.”  Both Koutarou and Daichi flinched at the word. Tetsurou wished he wasn’t used to hearing it.  He decided against telling them that it was Shouyou who had been on the receiving end of that word.

 

“Git.”  Koutarou said with real feeling as they all entered the common room together.  Tetsurou couldn’t help but nod in agreement. They all settled down near the fireplace together, Daichi taking the seat next to Tetsurou.  He sat close enough that their arms brushed whenever one of them moved and Tetsurou was so glad he had fought against his upbringing and the road that would have been so easy for him to walk down.

 

“Hey Koutarou, you should offer to help Akaashi with his astronomy work.”  Tetsurou said off handed as he purposely leaned against Daichi just a little.

  
  
  
  
  


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Tetsurou wakes to movement on his bed.  The pressure of another body presses into the mattress, making him automatically roll towards the person interrupting his sleep and invading his personal space.

 

The person collapses next to Tetsurou with a soft apology, almost muffled completely by the comforter he buries his head in.  Tetsurou would know Daichi even in the dark and he carefully turns onto his side and drops one of the pillows he was holding against the side of his face.

 

Tetsurou’s brain is slow to wake but he knows this isn’t any type of R-rated situation happening right now.  No odd fantasy is playing out and he guesses that something must be truly wrong for Daichi to have sought comfort.  Tetsurou is still getting used to physical comfort himself so he’s awkward at best when trying to give it but for Daichi he’ll get over his hang ups and his lonely past.

Daichi pushes close when Tetsurou holds the comforter up for him.  There’s no words exchanged between the two and Tetsurou is only slightly taken off guard when Daichi presses his body right up against Tetsurou’s.  Tetsurou swallows down the sudden lump in his throat as he pulls the comforter around the both of them, adjusting until Daichi’s face is pressed right up against Tetsurou’s collarbone.  Tetsurou carefully curls his arm around the other teen, worry making him a little light headed as Daichi trembles against him.

 

The light flowing in from the half opened curtain on the window makes Tetsurou remember what is right around the corner.  The full moon. They hadn’t spoken about their possible futures but Tetsurou could see the added strain on Daichi’s features with every passing month.

 

They were in their final year of Hogwarts and they had all done so much growing but sometimes Tetsurou still felt like a kid.  Clumsily bumping around, trying to figure things out while being selfishly centered on themselves.

 

Tetsurou wasn’t good at comforting people.  He left that mostly to Koutarou and Daichi but Koutarou was fast asleep and Daichi had come to him.  Tetsurou could feel the slight tremble of Daichi’s fingers as he curled them into the loose fabric of Tetsurou’s sleep shirt.

 

Tetsurou didn’t know the right words to make the future any less scary for Daichi.  He didn’t know how to soothe anyone and the only time he knew the right thing to say was when he was provoking someone.  So Tetsurou did something he had always been good at. He talked.

 

Tetsurou made sure to keep his voice low as he told Daichi everything that had been happening with quidditch.  He started with how the Hufflepuff Ushijima Wakatoshi was a huge obstacle then moved onto how weird the friendship the serious giant had with the Slytherin Tendou Satori and how Tetsurou had seen Satori kiss a Ravenclaw boy by the name of Semi Eita and how they had been dating for two years now and doesn’t that seem like such a long time when you’re only 17 years old?  He moved onto how sometimes Noya would flirt with Asahi during practice matches and real games and not even Tetsurou was sure if the other teen was sincere or he just liked making Asahi blush. Tetsurou admitted he was envious of Asahi’s hair and would he look good with long hair? No, it would probably be a disaster.

 

Tetsurou continued on until he felt Daichi relax against him.  He continued speaking even as his throat went dry and his eyelids felt heavy.  He didn’t stop until Daichi was fully asleep and he could see the beginnings of the sunrise out the window.  Only then did he allow his stream of consciousness to fade away as he let himself fall back into a deep sleep.

  
  
  
  


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There was a big party in the common room for Tetsurou’s birthday.  He was surprised by how many people seemed genuinely happy as they handed over gifts and treats.  He had been making an effort to be a better person but he didn’t think that extended beyond his friends.

 

Even Kei had wished him a happy birthday in the halls earlier that day.  Tetsurou had faked a sob before throwing himself at the younger teen, who recoiled in horror as Tetsurou gushed about his cute little underclassman actually liking him and will miss him when he was gone.  Kei had fired back with some choice words that would have felled a softer man but Tetsurou saw through that act now.

 

Gryffindor’s typically used any excuse to throw a celebration and Tetsurou’s birthday was no different.  It was loud and rowdy and a couple things caught on fire so all in all? A pretty good night. With the exception that Daichi was on patrol for his Head Boy duties.

 

Up in the dorms Koutarou brought out his present with a flourish and a wide smile that couldn’t contain how happy he was.  Tetsurou looked at the broom shaped wrapping paper and tapped his chin thoughtfully, making guesses with Tooru of what it could be until Koutarou was reaching over to rip the wrappings off with impatience.

 

The broom was one of the newest models, one of the ones Koutarou and Tetsurou had gushed over when Tetsurou had gone with the Bokuto’s to Diagon Alley before school started up.  It was sleek and beautiful and yes, Tetsurou might have cried a little but it was  _ nothing to make fun of, Tooru! _

 

Tooru got Tetsurou a jersey from his favorite team along with a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Bean which they all passed around for an hour until they called it quits after Koutarou got dragon dung.

 

It wasn’t until the next day that Tetsurou saw Daichi again.  Back in the dorms right before quidditch practice. Tetsurou had forgotten his new broom and had run back to grab it when he came across Daichi with his work spread across his bed.

 

“Tetsurou, about your birthday.”  Daichi said as Tetsurou grabbed his new broom and turned back to Daichi.

 

“I told Noya if he held his wand that way and casted that spell it would blow up so I am not cleaning up that mess.”  Tetsurou stated firmly, though he knew if Daichi asked him to he would clean it up because while also warning Noya about the consequences, he had also egged the other boy on.

 

“No it’s not about that, it’s about your gift.”  Daichi glanced down at the broom in Tetsurou’s hand before looking away.

 

“You got me something?”  Tetsurou asked in surprise, eyebrows raising as he stepped closer to Daichi’s bed.

 

“I did.”  Daichi admitted slowly, still not meeting Tetsurou’s eyes.

 

“Where is it?  Did you throw it in the lake?”  Tetsurou teased. Daichi reached under his pillow before pulling out something wrapped in newspaper.  It was very clearly a book, or multiple books to be more precise and Tetsurou hurried close in excitement.

 

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to give it to you, I should have at least gotten you sweets or something not books.”  Daichi looked up at Tetsurou and honestly, the sad look didn’t suit his face at all.

 

“But I  _ love  _ books.”  Tetsurou answered truthfully.  Even if he didn’t, he would love any present Daichi gave him.  He knew Daichi had no money of his own and none of them expected gifts from Daichi but he also knew it bothered Daichi to receive items without being able to give back.  “If you don’t give them to me now I’ll be late for practice and I’ll have to run drills instead of actually practicing and what kind of birthday present is that?” Tetsurou smirked as he held out his hand.  Daichi hesitantly handed over the present and Tetsurou tore into it with excitement.

 

“Book about potions and herbology?”  Tetsurou glanced at the titles before flipping through them.  They both went into much more detail than any of his textbooks did, along with the history of each item.  Difficulty of brewing or growing, helpful hints were written into the blank spaces also.

 

“I know it’s stupid, I should have done better.”  Daichi cringed as he rubbed the back of his neck, a sure sign that he was uncomfortable.  “They are even used books. Professor Takeda gave them to me and I regifted them-” As adorable as a rambling Daichi was, Tetsurou did need him to stop speaking before he was really late for practice but he couldn’t leave Daichi in distress.

 

Tetsurou meant to lean down and do something gentle and romantic like press his forehead do Daichi’s and look him deep in the eye to tell him he loved the books, that he was so happy that Daichi had noticed Tetsurou’s deeper interest in both subjects.  That’s what Tetsurou meant to do but the reality was a little different.

 

Tetsurou ended up basically headbutting Daichi, which did have the side effect of stopping his rambling.  Both teens groaned as they pulled away from each other.

 

“Thank it, I love you- I mean it, I mean the books- I love yo-it.  Them. The books.” Tetsurou put the books up as if that would hide his utter failure at trying to be smooth.  Never again would he try! “Thank you!” Tetsurou rushed out of the room and only realized once Tooru asked why he was carrying books instead of his broom that he had forgotten it back in their room.

 

Tetsurou used his old broom because there was no way he was speaking to Daichi again until they were at least 40 and the embarrassment of a semi-confession had faded.

  
  
  
  


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“Tetsurou.”  Tetsurou’s head snapped up as he looked into amused dark brown eyes.  “Thank you for joining us, could you pass the potatoes?” Daichi asked, motioning to the bowl by Tetsurou’s elbow.  Tetsurou ducked his head and passed the bowl across the table without meeting Daichi’s eyes again.

 

They had an instruction manual for everything so why wasn’t there one for being a teenager?  Granted Tetsurou would skip to the chapter that talked about being in love with one of your best mates but still.  He needed a little help. Tooru with his knowing grins and holier than thou attitude was not the person Tetsurou wanted to speak about it with, especially since he had fallen into his own relationship relatively easily.  Koutarou was honest to a fault and would just tell Tetsurou to tell Daichi, which under no circumstances could he do so. And Kenma would just stare Tetsurou down until the other teen left him alone.

 

“Thank you, I love you.”  Tetsurou looked up again, he was sure his eyes were almost comically wide as he stared at Daichi who was grinning as he spooned out a generous helping of potatoes.  “I mean potatoes, I love potatoes.” Daichi handed the bowl back with a shit eating grin.

 

Tetsurou let out a rusty laugh as he put the bowl back, kicking at Daichi’s legs under the table.

 

“Asshole.”  Tetsurou grumbled under his breath, no real heat in the word as Daichi trapped his kicking legs with his own.

  
  
  
  


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Tetsurou woke up in the infirmary once again.  He squinted against the bright light as he looked to his sides where his friends were.  Tooru was reading through the gossip in the newspaper, something he said he did to mock but they all knew he was greatly invested in the lives of people he had never met.  Koutarou and Daichi were interrupting regularly, mostly just to annoy Tooru who couldn’t go two words without being stopped by a ridiculously, and mostly unrelated, question.

 

“What happened?”  Tetsurou asked in confusion.  The last thing he remembered was a duel being announced in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

 

“That new knob of a professor pitted you against Daishou.”  Tooru said with an exaggerated eye roll. They had gotten a new professor that year, one who was more famous for his good looks than anything else.

 

“Did I kill him?”  Tetsurou asked hopefully, earning a light hit on his shoulder from Daichi.  Koutarou pointed to a bed across the room where the still form of Daishou laid, Mika leaning over him and giving him comfort he didn’t deserve.  “You’re too good for him Mika.” Tetsurou reminded her, wincing as his head pounded.

 

“Shut the fuck up, it’s your fault we’re in this mess.”  Daishou groaned from his own bed. Mika patted him back to stillness.

 

“You both are idiots.”  Mika said decidedly, earning a nod from Tetsurou’s three friends in agreement.  “You were just supposed to  _ disarm  _ each other.  It’s your own fault for trying to outdo each other.  Hasn’t this stupid rivalry gone on long enough?”

 

“Yeah, can’t you just get along?”  Koutarou asked hopefully.

 

“Death first.”  Tetsurou said, hitting his bed with his fist in emphasis.

 

“Your death.”  Daishou stated, which only started them throwing barbs at each other until the nurse came to give them something that successfully knocked both of them out.

  
  
  
  


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Tetsurou stepped into the surprisingly quiet and empty Gryffindor common room.  He guessed it wasn’t too surprising. It was a surprisingly nice day out and most were trying to take advantage of it before it went back to gray skies and seemingly never ceasing rain.  But Tetsurou had been on his way out too when he had spotted his brother.

 

Seeing his brother always managed to put Tetsurou into an odd mood.  He wasn’t angry or sad but something that settled much deeper inside of him.  Made him feel like not moving for a while and sleeping until he stopped feeling that way.  Part of him always wanted to say something, to walk up to him and tell him just because Tetsurou’s relationship with his parents had ended, didn’t meant theirs had to also.  But they hadn’t really had a relationship to begin with. Tetsurou had never been a good older brother and he had no idea how to fix that, or even if he could.

 

Daichi was seated on the couch, working on copying notes he had missed during the last full moon.  Tetsurou didn’t know if it was because Daichi was pushing himself harder or if because he was no longer a child going through the change he tended to bounce back quicker.  He didn’t look pale and exhausted for days after now.

 

Tetsurou tossed his body onto the couch, jostling Daichi’s notes and books.  They stayed there in relative silence as Daichi continued to work and Tetsurou rested his eyes.  Tooru was most likely with Hajime and Koutarou would be out bouncing from group to group, most likely trying to get a friendly game of quidditch going.

 

Tetsurou kicked off his shoes before pressing his feet flat against the arm rest and pushing himself further along the couch, knocking over a book in the process as he wiggled his way nearer to Daichi.  Daichi, clearly use to such behavior, merely held up his papers so Tetsurou could make himself comfortable, using one of Daichi’s thighs as a pillow.

 

“Comfortable?”  Daichi asked, voice deadpanned but Tetsurou just let out an exaggerated sigh of contentment.  He closed his eyes and let the sound of the crackling fireplace and the soft scratches of Daichi’s quill on paper lull him into complete relaxation.

 

After some time Daichi seemed to absentmindedly run his fingers through Tetsurou’s thick hair whenever he was reading over the borrowed notes.  Tetsurou wanted to push Daichi flat down on the couch and bury his head into the warm skin where his neck met his shoulder. From the stories Tetsurou heard he thought unrequited love was supposed to be pure anguish, filled with heavy sighs of longing and lonely nights of yearning.  No one ever said that Tetsurou would feel a sense of complete contentedness about how things were.

 

If Daichi were to ever return those feelings Tetsurou certainly would not turn them down to keep them where they are at but he was also in no rush to change anything.  Change would come soon enough when they graduated, for right now Tetsurou rather enjoyed the close friendship they shared and the small intimacies that made his heart simultaneously beat faster and settle down.

 

Tetsurou thought about the future and ended up opening his eyes to tilt his head back to look at Daichi.

 

“You know I’ll be there for you.”  Tetsurou stated because he couldn’t help but remember how with each passing full moon Daichi seemed to get a little more frantic, as if he was searching for answers that were completely escaping him.  Daichi looked down at Tetsurou, there were faint scars on his neck that were mostly hidden by the collar of his sweater.

 

“I know?”  Daichi said, more of a question than anything.

 

“After graduation I was thinking of joining the ministry, it’s where Tooru is heading.”  Tetsurou shrugged. “Kou will most likely be travelling the world playing quidditch for a while yet but me and Tooru, we’ll figure out a schedule where you won’t be left alone during the night.”  They both knew he was referring to the nights with a full moon, though they had gotten more secretive about it.

 

“Tetsurou.”  Daichi’s brows pushed together as he looked away.  “You guys can’t schedule your life around me, that’s not fair to you.”

 

“You’re never going to be left alone again.”  Tetsurou promised him, watched as Daichi’s eyes filled with tears as Tetsurou’s words penetrated that thick skull of his.  Finally Daichi gave a small nod, his fingers curling into the fabric of Tetsurou’s shirt before he released it and smoothed out the wrinkles he had made.  Tetsurou closed his eyes, giving Daichi some privacy to pull himself together before he pawed at Daichi’s hand, demanding he continue touching Tetsurou’s hair.

  
  
  
  


\----------------

  
  
  
  


“Tetsu!”  Koutarou shouted as he walked into the Room of Requirement, usually heavy lidded eyes opened wide in shock as someone ran into his back.  Tetsurou leaned to the side to smirk at Keiji, giving them both a knowing look. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Making a potion.”  Tetsurou motioned to the long table the room had provided for him.  He was still struggling with the potion that would held Daichi during full moons but he was making progress.  At least it wasn’t acidic anymore, though he still wouldn’t let even Kaito drink it at this point. “What are you doing here?”  Tetsurou asked, the smirk on his face preventing him from sounding as innocent as he wanted to.

 

“I uh- had something to show Akaashi.”  Koutarou shifted from foot to foot as Keiji walked around him.

 

“Is that something in your robes?”  Tetsurou asked, gaining a sharp glare from Keiji and a bright flush from Koutarou.

 

“No!”  Koutarou walked stiffly over to another table that hadn’t been there a minute ago.  Tetsurou looked over his ingredients and the empty cauldron, he hadn’t added anything yet so he was free to watch his friend with open interest.  With a flick of Koutarou’s wand he turned off the lights.

 

“You’re going to do it with me here?  Kinky.” Tetsurou laughed as Koutarou’s indignant squawk echoed around the room.  Keiji remained suspiciously quiet the entire time. Tetsurou was surprised the other teen hadn’t left yet.

 

“Okay, so here it goes.”  Koutarou did something, though it was too dark for Tetsurou to tell what, and suddenly the room was light up.  Constellations flowed above them, an exact replica of the night sky with not a cloud in sight. Tetsurou took a step to the side, saw the  round-shaped object on the table in front of Koutarou that was projecting the light.

 

“You did this?”  Keiji asked as he stepped closer to Koutarou, stars playing over his astonished features as he looked up and around the wide room.

 

“Tooru gave me the idea, he said muggles have these machines that make stars appear in the dark.”  Koutarou explained. “But they are inaccurate so I just made this one. Look you can even change the time of year too.”  Koutarou adjusted something and the stars flew by before resettling.

 

“This is amazing Koutarou.”  Keiji was now standing next to Koutarou, his eyes roaming the ceiling even as Koutarou stared down at him, chest puffing up in pride.

 

“You said the books weren’t really helping you and I know I learn better when it’s real like this.”  Koutarou said, voice surprisingly quiet. Keiji finally turned his head to look up at Koutarou.

 

“You made this for me?”  Keiji asked, as if it weren’t blatantly obvious that Koutarou had been trying to impress him for over a year now.  “It must have taken so much time and magic.”

 

“Yeah but I’d do anything for you.”  Koutarou shrugged, as if that were a perfectly normal thing to say.  Tetsurou had years to grow use to the adoring and loving words Koutarou easily spouted out as if it something everyone did, but he could tell Keiji was taken by surprise.

 

“Oh.”  Keiji glanced around again as Tetsurou tried to make his way discreetly towards the door.  “Could you bend down please?”

 

“Is there something on my face?  Yukie had cookies and I-” Tetsurou didn’t see why Koutarou was suddenly cut off mid-sentence but he could take a good guess.  He made a quick exit after that, closing the door behind him and covering his mouth to try and keep in the laughter.

  
  
  
  


\--------------------

  
  
  
  


“Daichi!”  Tetsurou rushed into their room, barely giving a look to Koutarou and Tooru as he bowled into the shorter teen.  Daichi caught him easily, remaining steady on his feet as he looked up at Tetsurou.

 

“Where have you been?  Curfew was over an hour ago.”  The Head Boy said, disapproving and a little hypocritical if Tetsurou was being honest.  They snuck out at least once a month to go all the way to the Shrieking Shack, but he was too excited to point that out.

 

“I had permission from Professor Takeda, but look!”  Tetsurou held up a thin vial with a cork in the top. He waved it in Daichi’s face before the other teen snatched it away from him.

 

“What is it?”  Tooru asked, leaning half way off his bed to try and get a better look.  Daichi stared down at the vial, carefully adjusting it in his hands before slowly looking up at Tetsurou.

 

“You made this?”  Daichi asked, strangely echoing the words Keiji had said a month prior to Koutarou.  Tetsurou wondered if it would end the same way but brushed it off.

 

“I’ve been working with Professor Takeda for a while now and this is the first time I’ve been successful.”  Tetsurou was nearly jumping up and down with excitement. “I’ll probably fail a couple more times but he said in a couple months I’ll have it down no problem.”

 

“This is-” Daichi swallowed audibly before swallowing once again, his eyes on the thin vial in his hand.  “This is a really complicated potion to brew. I- I thought about trying it but it’s beyond me.”

 

“But I’m brilliant with potions, I keep trying to tell you that.”  Tetsurou bent down, trying to catch Daichi’s eyes.

 

“What is it?”  Tooru asked again, frustration in his tone.

 

“Wolfsbane Potion.”  Daichi answered before looking up at Tetsurou once again, tears flowing down his cheeks.  Tetsurou felt his own eyes widen in shock. He had been expecting a tight hug and yes, hoping for a kiss but tears?

 

“I thought you’d be happy?”  Tetsurou panicked, his hands hovering over Daichi.  Wanting to touch and comfort him but not knowing if that was acceptable, if Daichi wanted that.  “I can even grow most of the ingredients!”

 

“You took Herbology and Potions, all those books and the extra classes.”  Daichi said slowly, putting it all together. Tetsurou felt his face grow warm, he hadn’t thought it was a lot at the time but maybe it was too much?

 

“That’s like-” Koutarou let out a choked sob and Tetsurou looked over at him in shock also.  “The nicest thing anyone's ever done in the history of ever.”

 

“It’s not that big of a deal!”  Tetsurou tried to backpedal, looking over at Tooru for help but the other teen was just shaking his head as he climbed off his bed and over to Koutarou to comfort the crying boy.

 

“It kind of is.”  Tooru said with a shrug.  Tetsurou looked back at Daichi, who was still crying also.

 

“I’m sorry.”  Tetsurou apologized immediately, earning a watery laugh from Daichi.

 

“You’re amazing.”  Daichi said, smiling through his tears as he looked up at Tetsurou.  “And dumb. I don’t know what I did to deserve you, to deserve any of you.”

 

“Please Daichi, you know what kind of assholes Tetsu and I would be without you?”  Tooru snorted. “Tetsu brought us together but you’re our glue.”

 

“He’s right.”  Tetsurou shrugged when Daichi looked up at him for confirmation.  “You’re our glue and we love you.” Daichi stepped forward and hugged Tetsurou, burying his face in Tetsurou’s chest.  He didn’t even mind a bit that he was getting his shirt wet.

  
  
  
  


\---------------

  
  
  
  


“Tetsurou?  What the hell are you doing here?”  Daichi hissed out as Tetsurou made his way into the Shrieking Shack.  It was a lot scarier when he was in his human form and not his Nundu one.

 

“We talked about it and agreed that it was better if one of us was there from the beginning.”  Tetsurou shrugged, acting as if it hadn’t been his idea all along. “We get here too late far too often and I hate that.  I hate seeing you hurt and lonely. This way you won’t ever be.”

 

“This is dangerous.”  Daichi already sounded resigned, though Tetsurou could still see fear in his eyes.  As if there was anything that could drive Tetsurou away from Daichi by that point.

 

“Changing forms for me takes the time between one breath and the next.”  Tetsurou shrugged. “And it’s no more dangerous than what we’ve been doing for years.”  Tetsurou reached out and cupped Daichi’s face, letting out a breath in relief when Daichi simply leaned into the touch.  He had noticed that Daichi was more affectionate right before the full moon.

 

“I have to take off my clothes.”  Daichi reminded him, face warm against Tetsurou’s hand.

 

“I guess I’ll bare with it.”  Tetsurou laughed when Daichi swatted at him.

 

“Thank you.”  Daichi said as he walked towards the corner of the room, hands at the hem of his shirt before he pulled it over his torso and head.  Tetsurou tried not to pay too close attention to the wide expanse of Daichi’s back, several shades lighter than his face and arms. Numerous scars littered his torso, the werewolves arms were long and Tetsurou wasn’t sure there was an inch left on Daichi that wasn’t scarred.

 

“I told you it’s not big deal-”

 

“Not just for this, though that’s part of it.”  Daichi turned to Tetsurou, who had a hard time not letting his eyes dip lower.  Daichi had a tendency to keep himself covered, always managing to change into his sleep clothes or take a shower when no one else was around.  “For everything. For befriending the odd loner kid during our first year, giving me the literal clothes of your back, sharing your work and notes with me- I mean Tetsurou, you literally made yourself into an animal just so I wouldn’t be lonely once a month.”

 

“I’ve messed up a lot too.”  Tetsurou said, as if he needed the reminder that he really didn’t deserve the thanks Daichi had given him.  He had nearly abandoned Daichi, left him to deal with his problems by himself for years before doing something about it.  He said hurtful things and let his own terrible upbringing affect him in too many situations.

 

“You were a kid.”  Daichi reminded him.  “You made my life so much better.  I use to dread this place, coming here alone and waking up in horrible pain month after month.  But it’s not so bad anymore.” Daichi smiled up at Tetsurou, a genuine and real smile that made Tetsurou feel far too many things all at once so of course he had to put his foot in his mouth.

 

“Sorry I missed everything you just said, I was staring at your shoulders.”  Tetsurou got a hit for that one but he grabbed Daichi’s wrist and pulled him closer, hugging him tightly.

 

“You’re the worst.”  Daichi grumbled against Tetsurou’s chest but didn’t try to push the other teen away so Tetsurou counted that as a win.

 

“In my defense they are very distracting.”  Tetsurou leaned down and placed a soft kiss on said distracting shoulders.

 

“What-” Daichi started but Tetsurou jumped back, eyes wide and brain crashing, his soul was trying to leave his body.  What did he just do? How could he have done that? He couldn’t even run away.

 

Or he could, in a sense.

 

Tetsurou changed to his Nundu form and Daichi blinked down at him, though the Nundu wasn’t much shorter than Daichi.

 

“Coward.”  Daichi grinned, tapping Tetsurou’s nose which made him recoil automatically.  Daichi pushed Tetsurou to face the other way but his grin was firmly planted on his face.  “The absolute worst.” Tetsurou heard Daichi mumble but there was no heat in his words.

  
  
  
  


\---------------

  
  
  
  


“Hey, hey, hey!”  Koutarou leaped onto Tetsurou’s back as they walked off the quidditch field together.  It was the last game ever for them, for everyone graduating with them. Gryffindor had managed to swipe the house cup right out of Hufflepuff’s fingers at the last second, Tooru securing the snitch and holding it up for a booming crowd.  The win felt bittersweet and Tetsurou wished Tooru hadn’t gotten the snitch so quickly.

 

Tooru walked next to them, big smile spread across his face before he reached out to grab the back of Tobio’s robes, shaking him and telling him he better not be a disgrace to the Gryffindor name next year.  Tobio no longer looked at Tooru with stars in his eyes as he had when he first entered Hogwarts, but there was a deeply rooted respect in the younger teen as he nodded, making a promise to Tooru who pretended he wasn’t crying.

 

“Party in the common room!”  Koutarou shouted the second they were in the locker room.  Everyone cheered their agreements, the older teens getting undressed at a slower rate than the younger ones.  “You’re coming to stay with us right? My parents even did up the spare bedroom for you.” Tetsurou dropped his gloves as he looked over at Koutarou in shock.

 

“What?  They have?”  Tetsurou asked in surprise, earning a flat look from the usually expressive Koutarou.

 

“Unless you’ve got somewhere else to stay?”  Tetsurou hadn’t. He had been worrying about it for the past couple months, where he would go after Hogwarts.  Tetsurou cleared his suddenly tightening throat as he looked back into his locker. “Thank you.” He said quietly, his words lost amongst the rowdy boys and girls changing.

 

Koutarou grinned as he slapped Tetsurou’s back before disappearing towards the showers.  Tetsurou closed his eyes and took a couple deep steadying breaths before following after him, suddenly feeling lighter than he had in months.

  
  
  
  


\--------------

  
  
  
  


“What are you doing up here?”  Tooru asked and Tetsurou dropped to his knees, pulling out his luggage as if that was his plan all along and he hadn’t been looking for Daichi.  “Daichi’s on patrol.” Tooru stated with a grin as he laid across Tetsurou’s bed on his stomach, smug face hovering above Tetsurou’s.

 

“I was getting something.”  Tetsurou grumbled but it wasn’t very believable even as he opened the luggage.  It had been the one his mother had given to him before he left the house for the last time.  He had shoved it under his bed when he got back and hadn’t opened it since.

 

There were nice clothes neatly packed in there, all muted and dark colors.  Tetsurou touched the expensive fabric and couldn’t place what he was feeling.  He hadn’t really known his mother so how could he miss someone he barely knew? There was a small stash of candies he had liked when he was little, always pointing them out when he went out with his mother.  She had made him promise to be good and they would get them on their way out, whether or not he behaved she always got a couple.

 

“I thought you were broke.”  Tooru said as Tetsurou opened a satchel that was inside the luggage.  It was full of coins, more than enough to help Tetsurou get on his feet after graduation.

 

“My mom must have snuck them in there.”  Tetsurou tucked away the satchel before closing the luggage.  “Most of the time I wasn’t even really sure she liked me.” He admitted softly.  Tooru slid off of the bed and sat on top of the luggage, hand coming up to roughly rub at Tetsurou’s hair, most likely making it an even bigger disaster than before.

 

“She did what she could.”  Tooru stated simply, which was true enough.  “You know, at this time during Daichi’s patrol he’s usually on the third floor, by the boys bathroom down past History of Magic class.  The younger kids like to go there and dare each other to stay in the bathroom by themselves.”

 

“Why?”  Tetsurou asked even as he pushed himself to his feet, helping Tooru up when the other held out his hand.

 

“Because it’s haunted.”  Tooru deadpanned.

 

“This whole castle is haunted.”  Tetsurou said in confusion but Tooru just shrugged.

 

“Kids, what can you do with them?”  Tooru asked as they walked out of their shared room together.

 

“I remember when we were their age we were doing productive things.”  Tetsurou grinned as they walked down the staircase, the celebration from the common room still going strong.

 

“Yeah like stealing ingredients to make animagnus potions to sneak out and visit our werewolf buddy.”  Tooru grinned back. “You know, nice wholesome things.”

 

It was relatively easy to sneak out of the party and make his way towards the third floor.  Daichi would most likely threaten to give Tetsurou a detention for being out past curfew but he had yet to carry through with that threat.  Sometimes Tetsurou would walk around with Daichi on his patrol, teasing the sometimes too serious teen into laughter.

 

Tetsurou peeked into the supposedly haunted bathroom but saw and heard nothing.  He thought maybe Daichi had already cleared the space out and was running through his mental list of spells for a tracking one so he didn’t have to wander all around the dark castle, avoiding teachers and prefects to find one specific Head Boy.

 

“What are you doing?”  A deep voice asked to Tetsurou’s left, making him let out an undignified noise and jump straight in the air.  His arm banged on the bathroom door frame before he heard laughter and turned an accusing look at the shorter teen.

 

“Daichi!”  Tetsurou yelled, earning a shush between his laughter.

 

“You jumped so high.”  Daichi leaned against the wall, holding onto his sides as he continued to laugh.  Tetsurou tried to find some semblance of annoyance in him and cursed himself for being so weak because all he could feel was warm inside from Daichi’s clear enjoyment.  “And that noise!” Okay so maybe there was a little annoyance.

 

“Stop laughing.”  Tetsurou emphasized his words with pokes to Daichi’s exposed sides.  Daichi tried to wiggle away but Tetsurou just stepped closer. “I think I hear someone.”  Tetsurou said as a last ditch effort to get Daichi to stop. The other teen shoved them both into the bathroom before closing the door silently behind them and pressing his ear to it.

 

“Get back.”  Daichi whispered urgently, pushing Tetsurou to the corner of the room where a pillar mostly hid them.  If a person walked in they would be able to see them but from the door they were hidden.

 

“I was jok-” Daichi covered Tetsurou’s mouth, pushing him up firmly against the wall.  Tetsurou was surprised he could hear the door opening over the pounding of his heart.

 

Tetsurou studied Daichi’s face, tense with his mouth pressed into a thin line as they waited for whoever was looking into the bathroom to walk away.  It felt like forever, especially with Daichi’s firm frame pressed against Tetsurou’s, but he knew it was only a couple seconds before the door swung closed again and Daichi was exhaling in relief, his forehead resting against Tetsurou’s shoulder as he let his hand fall away.

 

“Daichi?”  Tetsurou asked, earning a hum in response.  “I would like to kiss you now, if that’s okay?”  He was surprised at how level he sounded, merely curious.

 

“Oh.”  Daichi stilled against Tetsurou before looking up, his chin pressing against Tetsurou’s shoulder as he looked over Tetsurou’s face.  “That’s okay.” Daichi was already lifting himself up and the thought of Daichi standing on his toes to reach Tetsurou’s mouth made him smile as he leaned down the rest of the way.

 

They missed.

 

They tried again and ended up smashing their noses together.

 

“It’s like you’ve never kissed anyone before.”  Daichi said as he rubbed his nose.

 

“That’s because I haven’t!  Have you?” Tetsurou asked, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment.

 

“No.”  Daichi admitted as he looked over Tetsurou’s face.  “Stay still.” Daichi reached up to gently take hold of Tetsurou’s chin, tilting his head so their noses didn’t smash together and gently aligning their mouths to press softly together.  Tetsurou could feel Daichi’s triumphant grin against his mouth and he pressed a little closer, daring to trail his hands up the other teens sides and then back down before resting them on Daichi’s hips.

 

“I really like you.”  Tetsurou admitted quietly against Daichi’s lips.  It was much more than like, had been for years now but they had just shared their first kiss and he wasn’t quite ready to put his heart on the line like that.  Though he was now nearly positive Daichi felt the same way.

 

“Me too.”  Daichi agreed.  “I mean, I really like you too.  Not that I really like me.” Tetsurou laughed quietly as he stopped Daichi mid-ramble with a kiss, thrilled that he could do that now.  Not that he would often, he liked Daichi when he rambled. He liked Daichi when he did most things if he was being perfectly honest.

 

“We should have done this a lot sooner.”  Tetsurou said as they broke apart, slightly breathless.

 

“So much sooner.”  Daichi agreed before leaning up to kiss Tetsurou once again.

 

A cough broke them apart.  Daichi nearly headbutted Tetsurou as he stepped guiltily away from Tetsurou as Professor Naoi pointed his glowing wand at both of them.

 

“Back to your dorm, both of you.”  Professor Naoi said, stepping out of the way.

 

“Sir?”  Daichi asked hesitantly, earning a soft smile from the older man.

 

“Normally I’d give you detention or at least a stern talking to but I won the betting pool so I’m in a particularly good mood.”  The professor motioned behind him and both teens were too scared to ask what the petting pool was about as they practically ran out of the bathroom.

 

“Do you think the pool was about us?”  Tetsurou asked after they had safely made it back to the common room.

 

“The professors wouldn’t bet on their students love lifes.”  Daichi denied it quickly. By the way Professor Ukai glared at them the next day, asking if they could have waited just one more month proved him wrong.

 

Though that was nothing to the uproar that Koutarou and Tooru caused when they learned that the Professors knew that Tetsurou and Daichi were together before they did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will probably do an Epilogue 10 or 20 years into the future but for now, it's finished! Sorry it took so long!

**Author's Note:**

> Tetsurou - Sirius  
> Koutarou - James  
> Tooru - Peter  
> Daichi - Remus
> 
> These characters will roughly resemble the true marauders but with a Haikyuu (and my own) spin.


End file.
